Deal With It Roman brushes off MSBS rivals again

CUMBERLAND, ME – Two divisions of 3-year-old harness racing pacers went postward during the Cumberland Fair week, with a familiar face and a new star making headlines on Wednesday (Sept. 28) in the $18,000-plus Maine Breeders Stakes (MSBS).

Deal With It Roman (Western Maverick, Walter Case Jr. / Marc Tardif) vaulted to the top of the leader board with his wire-to-wire score in the $18,554 MSBS 3-year-old colt and gelding pace.

He left from post three and was guided through comfortable fractions of 29.1, 1:00.2 in the opening panels.

Tardif’s homebred Deal With It Roman was tied for second place at 287 points in the divisional standings with Bandolito Blaze (Heath Campbell / Valerie Grondin) leading into the race. Campbell put ‘Blaze’ into motion and began the outer flow moving into a 1:29.3 third stanza, and was just a half-length from the leader.

Case tapped the accelerator and pushed his charge into another gear and sped away from the pack to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:59.

Owned, trained and bred by Marc Tardif, Deal With It Roman (as part of an ownership entry) paid $3.40 to win for the sixth time this season and passes Use Yah Blinkah in the point standings to take the lead.

Daughtry (Ron Cushing / Heidi Gibbs) finished second; CBF Squirt Gun (Nick Graffam / David Crochere) was third.

Cowgirl Rides Again (Baron Biltmore) upset the favorite Sweet Baby G to win the $18,972 MSBS 3-year-old filly pace, and picked up her first lifetime victory in the process.

Driven by Shawn Thayer from post three, the daughter of Baron Biltmore sat a perfect two-hole trip behind the favorite to tip out in the lane and win by three parts of a length in 2:00.3, taking the first race record of her career.

Owned, trained and bred by James Smallwood, Cowgirl Rides Again paid $20.40 to win. Sweet Baby B (Walter Case Jr. / Fred Ward Jr.) finished second; Sheza Rebel (Andy Harrington / Marc Tardif) was third.

Race seven saw a dead heat for win between Bay Brute (Walter Case Jr.) and Nets of Passion (Dave Ingraham) in a swift 1:55.2, which is the fastest dead heat for win in the history of Cumberland Raceway.

Walter Case Jr. had three wins on the nine-race card, and Aaron Hall enjoyed a driving double.

First Tracks Cumberland, with cooperation from the Maine Standardbred Breeders Association and the Maine Harness Horsemens Association, hosted a live draw of the $240,000-plus Maine Breeders Stakes (MSBS) for the 2-year-old divisional finals to be held on Saturday (Oct. 1). The entries can be viewed at: https://racing.ustrotting.com/goto.aspx?target=12,86700

Racing resumes Thursday (Sept. 29) with two divisions of the Maine Breeders Stakes (MSBS) for 3-year-old trotters, with one early non-betting race for distaffs at 12:15 pm. Regular post time is 1 pm for the remainder of the Fair meet, which runs through Sunday (Oct. 2).

First Tracks Cumberland’s winter festival reconvenes on Sunday, November 6, following a Friday, Saturday, Sunday racing schedule through Christmas Eve (Dec. 24). Winter post times will be 11 a.m.

More information can be found on our website and on our Facebook page: First Tracks Cumberland.

For complete race results, click here.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland