PR Harness the record of the oval

Race Day

Saturday, May 17, 2003

8 races at Plainridge Racecourse, pace and trot, $17,900 in purses.

The Card

The official chart survives for 8 of the 8 races on this card. Every line carries the finishing position, the post position drawn, the winning time and the closing odds on the board as the judges recorded them.

The fastest mile of the afternoon was 2:00.2. Harness times are read as minutes, seconds and fifths rather than hundredths, so that trailing digit is a fifth of a second — the notation the sport kept long after other codes moved to decimals.

First Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $2,000 · 7 starters · Track FT · FMNW1PMLT

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
7/19Q 6 GRACIE DAY 2:03.2 22.30 John Hogan John A Di Stefano
27.432.230.129.1
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

27.4 · 1:00.1 (32.2) · 1:30.2 (30.1) · 1:59.3 (29.1)

Second Race

Trot · 1 Mile · Purse $2,000 · 9 starters · Track FT · NW2PMLT

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
9/DIS 5 LUCKY NORMA - 11.20 Bonnie J Rush Bonnie J Rush
28.331.129.429.4
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

28.3 · 59.4 (31.1) · 1:29.3 (29.4) · 1:59.2 (29.4)

Third Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $2,800 · 7 starters · Track FT · 3000CLHC

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
7/14 7 C R DIAMOND 2:01.0 8.00 Daniel T Sumner Christian R Larsen
27.230.030.030.4
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

27.2 · 57.2 (30.0) · 1:27.2 (30.0) · 1:58.1 (30.4)

Fourth Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $1,800 · 8 starters · Track FT · NW200PS

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
8/11 8 PATCH OF GRAY 2:00.4 25.80 Paul A Silva Norman L Tisbert
28.029.429.331.1
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

28.0 · 57.4 (29.4) · 1:27.2 (29.3) · 1:58.3 (31.1)

Fifth Race

Trot · 1 Mile · Purse $2,500 · 8 starters · Track FT · NW200PS

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
8/23 7 LB SPEEDO 2:04.4 43.80 James E Hardy Donald L Lemieux
29.130.230.330.0
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

29.1 · 59.3 (30.2) · 1:30.1 (30.3) · 2:00.1 (30.0)

Sixth Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $2,000 · 9 starters · Track FT · NW1000

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
X9/21 1 T'S GRAND FINALE 2:03.2 *1.40 Todd M O'Dea Todd M O'Dea
27.331.029.231.1
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

27.3 · 58.3 (31.0) · 1:28.0 (29.2) · 1:59.1 (31.1)

Seventh Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $3,000 · 7 starters · Track FT · 4000CL

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
7/17H 2 TOLEDO RED 2:00.2 19.10 Peter A Sarnie Peter A Sarnie
27.230.029.429.4
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

27.2 · 57.2 (30.0) · 1:27.1 (29.4) · 1:57.0 (29.4)

Eighth Race

Pace · 1 Mile · Purse $1,800 · 8 starters · Track FT · FMNW200PS

FinPPHorseTripTimeOddsDriverTrainer
DNF 1 ALOTA HOAGIE - *1.80 Wayne J Mastro Mary B Beauregard
28.031.130.330.2
quarters · widest is slowest · 1st qtr was quickest

28.0 · 59.1 (31.1) · 1:29.4 (30.3) · 2:00.1 (30.2)

Questions about this card

Was this a trotting or a pacing card?

Mixed — 6 at the pace and 2 at the trot. Mixed cards were the norm here.

What was the total purse for the day?

$17,900 across the card. Purse is the money the race offered, split by finishing position.

Which class conditions were carded?

FMNW1PMLT, NW2PMLT, 3000CLHC, NW200PS and NW1000, plus 2 others. Each one is a set of eligibility conditions rather than a grade.

How many races were on the card?

8 races, of which 8 carry a full chart with finishing positions. 8 horses appear across the card.

Are the payout figures available for this date?

No. Mutuel sheets were printed without a year on them, so a sheet is only attached to a card when at least three horse names match a date of the same month and day. Nothing matched here, and no price is guessed at.

When in the year was this card run?

It was a Saturday in May 2003. The meeting ran from spring into autumn rather than year-round, so a season reads as a scatter of afternoons and evenings — the 2003 index shows which other dates survive around this one.

What is the difference between the entries and the chart?

An entry sheet is printed before the race and lists the field as drawn, with post positions and the driver named at the time. A chart is written afterwards and fixes what happened: the order of finish, the beaten margins, the quarter fractions and the time. Scratches and driver changes fall between the two, so where both stand for one date they do not always agree.