by John Manzi, for the Billings Series

Monticello, NY — Maybe it was the familiar surroundings of his home track or maybe it was the luck of the draw but whatever it was turned out to be right for “Baystate Bob” Kenney when he hustled Just Like Lloyd home first in 1:56.1 in the Eastern Region Billings Trot at Plainridge Park on the late summer afternoon of Friday (Sept. 16).

“It was racing luck and it turned out to be a real good horse race with three of us across the wire at the finish,” Kenney said.

According to Kenney he rushed his horse away from the gate but he ranged up alongside Bob “the Headhunter” Hechkoff with Trotalot as they headed toward the first quarter with Just Like Lloyd on the limb.

However at that point, a bobble by “Hurricane Hannah” Miller’s Jacks To Open, who was behind Trotalot, allowed Kenney to move his trotter down along the pylons.

“Once there I got a solid two-hole journey until we headed for home,” Kenney related. “And as we straightened in the stretch I moved to the outside and Hannah (Miller) went down the inside and all three of us were side by side when we hit the finish line and I was surely happy that Just Like Lloyd was a head better than the other two.”

Since the former business executive has retired earlier this year he has driven more winners thus far this season than any amount of drives he had in any singular year since he began his amateur driver career in 2000.

Kenney’s victory today was his eighth in just 21 trips to post and in all of his previous seasons “Baystate Bob” had racked up only four winners, albeit from a very minimal amount of starts annually.

Just Like Lloyd is owned by Di Stefano and Son Stable and is trained by John Di Stefano. He paid $14.20 for win.