Twin features on Saturday Cumberland card

CUMBERLAND, ME – A pair of $5,000 harness racing co-features and two Maine Amateur Driving Club (MADC) events highlight Saturday’s (Nov. 13) 10-race card at Cumberland.

Kicking off the Daily Double is the $5,000 Trot version of the NW4000 conditioned event at the iconic Southern Maine oval, which pits Plainridge invader Uknow What To Do (post 3, Drew Campbell, 5-2) versus the class-climbing J S Peyton (post 5, Dan Deslandes, 3-1).   The former is trained by Jim Dunn and has been facing tougher company down in the Bay State, whereas the latter looks to grab his second win in a row at Cumberland.

Third choice on the morning line is Little Macabee (post 4, Aaron Hall, 7-2).  Trained by Eric Bickmore the son of Chapter Seven looks for his fourth victory of the season.  The opener also kicks off the 50 cent Pick 5.

Race two, which is also the second half of the early double is the $5,000 Pacing side the NW4000 and has Ten Beaches Later (post 4, Bruce Ranger, 5-2) as the morning line favorite.  Looking to pick up his second consecutive victory, the Benson Merrill-trainee won his last start at Cumberland on Nov. 6.  He will certainly be challenged by So So De Vie (post 6, Dan Deslandes, 3-1) who may find the descent in class to his liking.

The Spy (post 3, Shawn Thayer, 4-1) takes up the third choice position.  He enjoyed a three-race win streak in October and appears poised to rebound.

The $4,500 Maine Amateur Driving Club group “A” brings back some familiar faces as Benson Merrill (post 5, Jackie Gheeson, 5-2) and Derek Howes (post 2, Rockintheniteaway, 9-2) look to get back to that Blue Seal Winners Circle during the winter meet.  Trainer Karl Butterfield also takes a shot at the MADC ranks, along with the 21-year-old ‘young guns’ Dalton Lee (post 1, Supreme Mach N, 5-1) and Zach Vickerson (post 3, Colorful Speech, 4-1) in Saturday’s (Nov. 13) sixth race.

The MADC eighth race, group “B” bunch sees the return of the red hot Dakota “Action” Jackson as he puts his two-race win streak on the line with his own Milliondollardad (post 4, 6-1).  Just outside him is Alex Richardson (post 5, Dancin Hill, 3-1) who drives the morning line favorite.  Not to be counted out is Joe “The Prez” Burke (post 7, Meetmeatthedance, 5-2) who just won his last start at Plainridge after being parked three deep to the three-quarters in 1:26.4.

The Maine Amateur Driving Club events are proudly sponsored by the good folks at Blue Seal Feeds of the Windham and North Yarmouth locations.  Trophies will be presented by Aimee Nichols, the friendly territory manager for Blue Seal and Kent Feeds.

Racing continues at First Tracks Cumberland on Tuesday (Nov. 16) and Wednesday (Nov. 17) with the regular 11:00 am post time.  Our Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting continues with live harness racing several days each week through December 31, 2021.

For more information go to our website: firsttrackscumberland.com

Follow us on Facebook at @FirstTracksCumberland.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland