Plainville, MA — Driver Bruce Ranger put himself back into first place in the dash driving competition after he won four races on the Tuesday (Nov. 18) card at Plainridge Park, including accomplishing a natural hat trick in races five, six and seven.
Ranger won with Arabella’s Glider (1:57.2, $8.80), Tobasco (1:58.2, $7.60), Smokin Molly (1:55.2, $6.60) and Venice Blue Chip (1:54, $6.80), all in various TrackMaster events.
Ranger’s rival for the title is Brett Beckwith, who won one race on Tuesday — oddly enough, the only non-TrackMaster event on the card.
Beckwith scored in the $15,000 4-year-old-and-under trot with Bobcat, who took the lead from post 7 and laid down quarters of :28.1, :57.2 and 1:27.1 before rounding the last turn with a 3-length lead. When Bobcat turned for home, he faced a strong bid from Halifax (Jim Hardy), who was full of trot and gaining ground with every stride. But the wire came before Halifax could reach, and Bobcat hung on to win by a head in 1:57.4.
Bobcat is owned by Archie McNeil and trained by Melissa Beckwith.
After the dust settled on Tuesday, Ranger now has 141 wins to Beckwith’s 139 with only six days left in the meet.
Live racing at Plainridge Park will resume on Thursday (Nov. 20) at 1 p.m. There will be a $650 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 in the sixth race.
Free full past performance programs and race replays for all live racing days at Plainridge Park can be found at plainridgeparkcasino.com.