500 for Harrington

Bangor, Maine … Friends and family of driver Andy Harrington celebrated a milestone victory on Wednesday (July 26) as the 33-year-old teamster secured the 500th driving win of his harness racing career behind Celebrate Your Bet (Bettor’s Delight) at Bangor Raceway.

Wearing the familiar blue and red colors of the legendary Nason clan, Harrington safely stowed Celebrate Your Bet along the pylons in the early going. Allowing circumstances to dictate strategy as the $3700 classified field of pacers jockeyed for best advantage, Harrington, at one point pounced third over behind dull cover, before the entire outer flow, realizing its folly, collapsed to regain the pylon path as the field reached the half. With excess cover dispensed with, Harrington was then free to follow the live cover of Ugotaearnyrstripes (Nick Graffam) before flying three wide off the final turn and measuring the wire to secure the quarter-length victory timed in 159.4.\

The landmark win was one of two on the card for Harrington, who began working on his second 500 later in the day when Drinka Beer (We Will See, $11.20) upset the heavily favored Dontbothermenone N (Ron Cushing), tracking down the recent southern hemisphere import, who was making his first Stateside appearance, in a seasonal best 1:55.2.

Both of Harrington’s victories were trained by his wife, Sarah Harrington

In other Bangor news drivers Kevin Switzer, Jr and Bruce Ranger lit up the Bangor Raceway marquee on Wednesday, engineering a five win and three win performance, respectively. The victories propelled them into a three-way tie atop the Bangor leaderboard with Dan Deslandes; members of the triumphant trio, driving 38 winners apiece during the spring/summer Queen City meeting.

With the summer meet concluded,  Bangor Raceway will go dark until early September when live harness racing will resume on Wednesday (September 6) and Saturday, (September 9). Racing will be conducted on a two day week schedule for the middle two weeks of the month of September.

For complete non-wagering race results, click here.