Can Big Al M overcome a bad draw?

CUMBERLAND, ME – Big Al M returned to his winning ways last week, after a dry spell going back to September.  However, this week the veteran harness racing trotter has been saddled with post position eight in the $5,500 top trot on Saturday (Nov. 22) at First Tracks Cumberland.

While the 7-year-old son of Anders Bluestone has picked up nine victories this season, including a pair of wins a Cumberland with his owner/trainer Zach Vickerson in the sulky, and is the winner of 31 races and $520,705 in his career, the question remains: can the accomplished trotter get the job done from the outermost starting point.

Last week top reinsman Kevin Switzer Jr. put Big Al M right on the front end and took care of business by fending off the late charge of Brutalizer with Andy Harrington at the controls.  Regardless of post, Big Al M has been installed as the 2-1 early morning line favorite from the outside, and retains the sulky services of Switzer Jr.

The Trackman’s second pick is Valyrian Steel (5-2, Cain MacKenzie) who has five wins this year and never misses a check.  He scores from post two.

The third choice is Brutalizer from post seven (4-1, Andy Harrington) who has six wins on the season and has been second in his last two starts for his new connections.

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

Veteran teamster ‘Double-digit Dave’ Ingraham is very close to his 8,000^th career victory, now sitting at 7,996 lifetime wins.  Over the weekend Ingraham has 15 drives: eight on Saturday and seven on Sunday.

Driving harness horses since 1980, the 63-year-old has 69 wins this year with earnings of $584,740.  Over his 45-year career he has driven the winners of over $32 million and enjoyed a dozen seasons with a million or more in earnings.  His statistically best year was 1995 where the Maine-native won 403 races and $2.7 million in purses.

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

Racing continues on Sunday (Nov. 23) 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