Arts Flight tough, Switzer Jr. dominates

CUMBERLAND, ME – Local pacer Arts Flight (Artistic Fella) captured his second $5,000 harness racing feature in as many weeks on Sunday (Nov. 16) at Cumberland Raceway, this time with Nick Graffam in the sulky.

Graffam flushed the 1/5 favorite from the car from post two and grabbed the point with minimal urging.  The 4-year-old son of Artistic Fella hit the opening panel in a modest :29 seconds with Press Time (10-1, Aaron Hall) poised in the pocket.

The field was stretched out through a soft :59.1 half-mile marker, with little action materializing on the outside.  The first challenge came in the form of Grand Gallop Semalu (8-1, Andy Harrington) who was sitting fifth until the paddock turn and brushed up alongside the leaders by the time they reached the 1:29 third stanza.  Always A Mystery (27-1, McGwire Sowers) followed his cover on the outside and brushed into contention while rounding the final turn.

At the head of the stretch the pacesetting Arts Flight had his work cut out for him as the the two challengers set their sights on the wire and were gaining momentum with every stride.  Through mid-stretch Arts Flight fought back and was able to keep the would-be spoilers at bay as they hit the finish line together in 1:59.3.

ARTS FLIGHT REPLAY

Trained by Sara Harrington and owned by Mac Stables, Arts Flight prevailed by three parts of a length to capture his second win in a row and eighth of the season.  He returned $2.60 and was bred in Maine by Lynn-Marie Plouffe.

Grand Gallop Semalu finished second, just a quarter-length in front of the fast closing Always A Mystery, who was third.

In other news, Todd Whitney won the $4,000 Maine Amateur Driving Club event with Lear Seelster in 2:02, returning $4.80.

Leading reinsman Kevin Switzer Jr. swept nearly half the card, winning six races on the program, including the last four races of the day.  Nick Graffam, Aaron Hall and Steve Wilson all grabbed driving doubles.  Conditioner Zach Vickerson enjoyed a training triple.

Switzer Jr. has a nearly insurmountable lead in the Cumberland drivers standings, sitting way atop the leaderboard with 83 trips to the winners circle.  McGwire Sowers (51), Aaron Hall (40), Nick Graffam (38) and Drew Campbell (37) round out the top five.

Racing resumes on Saturday (Nov. 22) at First Tracks Cumberland, with the Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting continuing its weekend action throughout the month of November.  Cumberland Raceway will transition to three days of harness racing each week (Fri-Sat-Sun) beginning December 5.  The 18-day meet runs until Dec. 21, 2025.

For more information go to our website: https://firsttrackscumberland.com/

Follow us on Facebook at @FirstTracksCumberland.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland