Plainville, MA — Taking advantage of torrid early fractions, Rocknroll Runa A turned a big move into a huge win in the $25,000 winners-over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (May 18).

The Wild Card (driven by Bruce Ranger) made the most of his pylon position start, seating an aggressive Anvil Hands (Jim Hardy) in a wicked :25.4 first quarter. The field stayed single-file for only a short time before Rocknroll Runa A (Luke Hanners) pulled first-over approaching the half with Patrickthepiranha A (Brett Beckwith) on his back. When the group straightened out to trek up the backside, Rocknroll Runa A switched gears and paced right by The Wild Card, cleared in the final turn, and opened up a five-length lead by the top of the stretch. As he approached the line unchallenged, Rocknroll Runa A stretched his margin of victory out to seven lengths and stopped the timer in 1:50.1.

Rocknroll Runa A’s win in the Thursday feature at Plainridge Park was the centerpiece of a driving hat trick for Luke Hanners. Tom Melanson photo.

It was the fourth win of the year and first at Plainridge Park for Rocknroll Runa A ($7.00), who is owned and trained by Larry Stalbaum.

Hanners also won one of the $20,000 sub-features with Odds On Blockchain (1:51.2, $13.80), who led at every station in the mile and crossed the line 2-1/2 lengths on top for Royal Rock Racing and Jaymes McAssey, who also trains the winner.

Hanners also won the nightcap with Stihl N (1:53.4, $13.00) to complete a driving hat trick.

The other $20,000 pace went to Skyway Victor (Brett Beckwith), who got class relief this week and took full advantage of it. Skyway Victor took the lead past the half and opened up by three lengths at the head of the lane. From there, he cruised to a 2-1/4-length win in 1:51.4. Skyway Victor ($5.20) is owned by Robert Griffin and Mark Eaton, who also does the training.

In the fourth race, 24-year-old Katelyn Gerow registered her first training win at Plainridge Park after Third Power (1:54, $8.00) was steered to a convincing 2-1/2-length win by Bruce Ranger. Third Power also gave Gerow first ever training win on April 15 at First Tracks Cumberland. In her very brief career, Gerow now has 12 starts with three wins, two seconds and four thirds, giving her an impressive .404 UTR.

Driver Nick Graffam got lifetime win No. 998 with Rockin’ Cougar (1:55.1, $5.40) on Thursday, leaving him only two shy of a career milestone, 1,000.

The Jackpot Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the ninth race on Thursday. The combination of 8-5-3-4-2 returned $3,129.66 for a 20-cent wager.

Live racing at Plainridge Park will resume on Monday (May 22) at 4 p.m.