Plainville, MA — Lightly regarded at the windows, Bet You made the faithful take notice after putting in a career-best performance in winning the $14,000 New England-owned Winners Over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon (Aug. 12).
Bet You (Kevin Switzer Jr.) pulled from third past the :26.4 quarter and took the lead from Quick Shot (Drew Campbell) before the :55.1 half and proceeded to open up a three length lead.
Rolling up the backside, he maintained that gapped margin to the three-quarters and around the last turn while the competition tried to keep pace. When the race headed for the wire, Quick Shot was relentless in his pursuit to catch the leader and did begin to make up the difference. But Bet You was strong to the wire and hung on to win by a length in 1:50.3.
The winning time was a new seasonal mark for Bet You and tied his lifetime best mile. It was the 30th career win for Bet You ($17.40) and pushed his total earnings to $489,932. Scott Dillon owns the 7-year-old altered son of Bettor’s Delight-Armbro Amoretto that is trained by Joe Nelson.
The $12,000 upper-level conditioned secondary feature was a heavyweight battle between Tisadream N (Drew Monti) who shot right for the lead and Betterlatethnnever (Jay Randall) who had the same idea in mind.
Tisadream N got to the quarter in :26.3 but Betterlatethnnever was right on his back, before trying to clear. Tisadream N would not give up position so Betterlatethnnever was now in the breeze pushing the issue.
After tripping the half in :54.1 in tandem, the two horses continued pacing side by side up the backstretch to three-quarters in 1:22 when Fernleigh Rebel N (Mitchell Cushing) tipped three-deep and joined the fray off the last turn. As they hit the stretch Tisadream N regained a length lead and refused to lose in deep stretch and tripped the beam first in 1:51.1.
It was the second straight win and fifth of the season for Tisadream N ($3.60) who has now earned $40,040 this year for owners Tony Gruppo and Tim Bojarski. Scott Rollins trains the winner.
The $10,000 Nauset Light is Plainridge Park’s 2-year-old developmental pacing series and the first leg was contested on Monday.
Mancrush (Captaintreacherous-Authorize) was floated off the wings to the quarter by driver Jimmy Whittemore and eventually settled on the lead in front of the stands the first time. From there he led the group the rest of the way, holding off Sweet Lucille (Drew Monti) and Han Solo (Kevin Switzer Jr.) by a half-length at the wire where he won in 1:55.1.
It was the second lifetime victory for Mancrush ($4.60) who is owned by M And L of Delaware and trained by Marissa Chadbourne.
Kevin Switzer Jr. had the hot hand at The Ridge Monday, leading all drivers with three wins on the card.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 14) with post time at 4 p.m.