Plainville, MA — The 3-year-old Massachusetts Sire Stake Champion Crystalline looked in top harness racing form two-weeks removed from her $100,000 final victory after cruising to an easy win in the $12,000 trotting feature at Plainridge Park on Friday afternoon (Nov. 15).
Driver Kevin Switzer Jr. took Crystalline to the wood fourth and waited for everyone to seat behind Hs Marcia (Drew Campbell) moving to the quarter. When they did, he pulled the classy trotter off the pegs and rushed her to the lead she would maintain for the remainder of the mile.
Crystalline hit the half in :57.3 and three-quarters in 1:27.1 while the competition stacked up behind her. The group then rolled off the far turn with Crystalline opening up a two length advantage under her own terms and won without issue in 1:57.1.
Crystalline ($5.20) captured her eighth win of the year and boosted her earnings to $141,465. Ray Campbell Jr. bred and owns the daughter of Chapter Seven-Royalty Free who is trained by Scott Renz.
After spending the last two months competing in stake engagements in Kentucky and Indiana, Lindy Pearl (Drew Monti) returned to Plainridge Park and made a strong move from the back of the pack to score a convincing 4-¼ length victory in 1:58.1 in the $10,000 trotting sub-feature on the card. It was the first seasonal win for the heavily favored Lindy Pearl ($2.20) who is owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut and trained by Domenico Cecere.
Matty "Ice" Athearn and Bruce Ranger were the top winning drivers on Friday taking two races each.
Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Monday afternoon (Nov. 18) at 1 p.m.
By Tim Bojarski, for the Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts