Plainville, MA — After spending her last six starts at Yonkers Raceway competing in the Ursula Mcintyre Series, Turn The Page returned to her home track and scored an impressive win in the $25,000 Distaff Open at Plainridge Park on Monday (May 18).
Turn The Page (Ron Cushing) got away fifth as Custard Dolce (Drew Monti) led to the quarter in :27. It was there that Royally Hot (Kevin Switzer Jr.) left the pocket to take over the front and Turn The Page pulled first-over in the breeze to advance towards the new leader.
Turn The Page continued to grind up the backside and eventually pulled alongside Royally Hot, who responded well as the two-horses skirmished through the last turn. However Turn The Page swelled up at the top of the stretch and moved into the lead that she kept to the line over a fast-closing Ambushed (Cory Stratton) to win in 1:51.3, taking a seasonal mark.
It was the fourth win of the year for Turn The Page ($10.20), who is owned by her driver, Ron Cushing, in partnership with Kevin Sywyk. Heidi Cushing trains the winner.
The win was the second of the day for both Ron and Heidi Cushing in their respective categories.
Earlier in the $20,000 upper-level condition for female pacers, Intothemysticmoon (Kevin Switzer Jr.) dropped out of the Open and was on a mission as she flew to the quarter in :25.4 while seating the entire field. As the race went by the half, Mrs. Cheese (Drew Monti) moved first-over from fourth and made her way to second at the 1:22.1 three-quarters, only a length off the leader. Mrs. Cheese continued to press around the turn and into the lane, but Intothemysticmoon was up to the task and would not relent at all, winning by three-quarters of a length in 1:50.4, which was a seasonal mark for the mare.
Intothemysticmoon ($3.40) is owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi and trained by Joe Nelson.
Plainridge Park’s top two leading drivers, Matty Athearn and Kevin Switzer Jr., added three more wins to their respective totals as the top pilots of the day. Athearn now has 40 wins, 12 ahead of Switzer who now has 28. Randy Bickmore matched Heidi Cushing with two training tallies, as they both led the conditioner pack on Monday.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Tuesday (May 19) at 4 p.m. and there will be a $12,402 carryover in the Wicked Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the sixth race.
Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Plainridge Park can always be downloaded at their website (plainridgeparkcasino.com) under the “Racing” tab. You can also watch all the race replays on that same page.