Big Al M back home and back in form

CUMBERLAND, ME – Zach Vickerson has already won with his trotter Big Al M several times this season at Cumberland Raceway.  After a winless October at Saratoga, the Portland conditioner hopes that Big Al M will go a big mile on Saturday (Nov. 15) at First Tracks.

The 7-year-old son of Anders Bluestone has accrued eight victories this season, including a pair of wins a Cumberland with his owner/trainer in the sulky.  A winner of 30 races and $517,955 in his career, the veteran trotter has now earned over $45,000 this year.

His last score came during ‘Fair week’ at the iconic Southern oval, with Kevin Switzer Jr. at the lines in a wire-to-wire 1:58.4 effort.  Since then he has been struggling in the Open Trots at Saratoga with bad posts and an uncharacteristic miscue.  Nonetheless, Big Al M has been installed as the 9-5 early morning line favorite from post four, and is reunited with Switzer Jr. and looks to take much of the public interest.

The Trackman’s second pick is Brutalizer (post 1, Andy Harrington) who has two wins in his last four starts and hasn’t been worse than third since the Summer time where he was campaigning at Harrington in Delaware.  This is his second start out of the Sara Harrington stable, and is pegged at 5-2.

The $5,500 featured trot is programmed as race eight on the eleven race card.

The Pick 5 starts with the third race; our Pick 4 highlights the seventh, and our High-Five Pentafecta in the finale—all with low 16% takeouts.

Racing continues on Sunday (Nov. 16) at First Tracks Cumberland with a 13-race card.  Our Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting enjoys 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 entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland