by Jack Ginnetti

Marlborough, MA — Driver/trainers Dan Daley and Jim Hardy had themselves quite a payday on Tuesday (September 18) at Plainridge Racecourse as four non-betting races were run in the Massachusetts Sires Stakes for 2-year-olds, totaling $30,000 in purse money.

Daley started things off by winning the third race on the day’s regular 10-race card with Deposit Only in a blistering 1:55.4. He followed that up later with two wins in the Massachusetts Sires Stakes. The first was with RC Legacy, who romped home an easy winner in 2:06.3 over Mr Snubb Dorval in the first race for colts and geldings. He scored again in the $7,804 trot with RC Biscuit. Both are trained by Daley and owned by Raymond Campbell, Jr. of Belchertown, Mass.

Hardy, the meet’s leading driver, put together another good race day. He won the eighth race with RC Dynasty, who is trained by Linda Murray, and drove Paul and Rosalie Vacca’s Dream One Up (1:57.3) to victory lane in the ninth race.

But Hardy wasn’t through. In the last Sires Stakes race of the afternoon for colts and geldings, which carried a purse of $7,500, he drove Steve O’Toole’s Artie Bacardi to his sixth straight win in a sizzling 2:00.4 to cruise away from his closest competitor, Penn Station with Kevin Switzer. The victory was the horse’s third in Mass Sires Stakes events this year and his six wins (three coming in qualifiers) have been by a combined total of 47 lengths.

Jim Smallwood drove Summer Spirit to the winner’s circle in the other $6,999 purse for 2-year-old fillies, stopping the timer in 2:03.2. He defeated Bet On Betty and Summer Scorcher in recording the win for Winterbeary Farm LTD of Dudley, Mass.

Veteran Plainridge reinsman Greg Bowden won the day’s feature race, a $4,000 pace, with Crystal Bliss (1:54.1), trained by Jennifer Allen, who is sporting a .300 winning percentage.