Plainridge Park: Purse hike for Spirit of Massachusetts Trot triggered spike in nominations

On Sunday, July 19, Plainridge Park will once again host two outstanding Grand Circuit events when its signature stakes, the G2 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot and G3 Clara Barton Distaff Pace, will go postward during a special matinee card scheduled to start at 2 p.m. But this year, increased purses for both have seen nominations rise.

The Spirit of Massachusetts Trot has been contested for $250,000 since it was first introduced in 2017. However, this year that purse was increased to $300,000. And the Clara Barton, which has been run since 2019, saw a similar bump of $50,000 from $100,000 to $150,000.

“On the strength of a healthy purse account and a new agreement with the Harness Horseman’s Association of New England, we were able to increase the purse for the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot and Clara Barton Pace this year, and are looking forward to two very competitive events as a result,” said Steve O’Toole, Director of Live Racing at Plainridge Park.

There were 26 nominations for the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot this year, including 22 horses and geldings and two mares. And those came from just about every major trainer in the sport including Ake Svanstedt, who named four (For July, Happy Jack B, Up Your Deo and Warrior), Ron Burke, who has three (Antognoni S, Lexus Kody and Southwind Coors), and Marcus Melander, who also named three (Aetos Kronos S, Periculum and Super Chapter).

And among those nominations are two 2025 Dan Patch Award winners.

Lexus Kody, who last year won in a Canadian, track and stake-record time of 1:49 1/5 at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the Maple Leaf Trot, was also named the Older Trotter of the Year as well as Trotter of the Year. And this past Saturday (July 4), Lexus Kody won in 1:49 4/5 at The Meadowlands to tie (with Periculum) as the fourth-fastest trotting mile of 2026.

Super Chapter, who became the fastest 3-year-old trotter ever over a five-eighth’s mile track when he won in 1:50 at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 2025, was eventually lauded as the 3-year-old Male Trotter of the Year.

Along with those award winners from last year are the Melander-trained Periculum, who is tied with Lexus Kody and took his mark of 1:49 4/5 in the Cutler Memorial that was also held at The Meadowlands, and Ake Svanstedt's Up Your Deo, who finished second by only a neck to Lexus Kody in that race on July 4, and was race-timed in the same 1:49 4/5 as the winner. 

Up Your Deo comes into the 2026 edition of the Spirit of Massachusetts trot as the defending champion after winning this stake in 2025. 

This year to date, Super Chapter, Lexus Kody and Periculum are three of the top-five fastest trotters in North America (all five having taken marks under 1:50). They sit behind On To Norway, who just became the fastest all-age trotter in North America on the strength of his 1:48 3/5 win in the Bergstein Graduate at The Meadowlands (while beating Super Chapter by a mere neck) on Saturday (July 4), and Bourbonista S, who also won at The Meadowlands that same night in 1:48 4/5, beating another Spirit eligible, R Dutchess, who finished third in that race while trotting in 1:49 3/5.

Although Burke and Melander both have three eligible to the Spirit, On To Norway (who is trained by Burke) and Bourbonista S (who is trained by Melander) are not among their nominees.

The Clara Barton Distaff Pace had 16 mares nominated, including the 2025 Dan Patch older female pacer Twin B Joe Fresh, who won handily in 1:48 4/5 in an overnight event at Harrah’s Philadelphia two weeks ago and just finished second by a neck in 1:48 in the Perfect Sting at The Meadowlands on Saturday (July 4) to stablemate Miki And Minnie. And although Miki And Minnie just visited Plainridge Park on Thursday (June 25) and won the Open there in 1:49 1/5, she was not nominated to the Clara Barton.

Andrew Harris’s Unreasonable, who won at Oak Grove this year in 1:49 1/5 before finishing third in her last outing in the Perfect Sting behind the aforementioned Miki And Minnie and Twin B Joe Fresh while being race-timed in 1:48 3/5, is eligible. Others in the potential lineup include Ron Burke’s Rodeo Drive Deo, owner of a 1:49 4/5 win at Pocono already, and Brett Pelling’s Rocket Deo, who won an Open at Plainridge in 1:50 1/5 in June.

Although the final fields will not be drawn until next week, the list of nominees could still see additions, as supplemental entries for both races remain open until those draws.

Connections interested in supplementing their horses to the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot can do so by paying $20,000 at time of entry. And anyone wanting to supplement to the Clara Barton Distaff Pace can pay $7,500 at time of entry.

The box closes at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15 for the draw for both races.

A complete list of eligibles for the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot can be found here and the eligibles for the Clara Barton Distaff Pace can be found here.

-edited release (Tim Bojarski for Plaimridge Park)