Bangor State Fair sees Switzer win driver’s title

Bangor, Maine …  Kevin Switzer, Jr roared into Maine’s fairground harness racing season in high gear, scoring four wins during the Bangor State Fair’s one day meet, becoming the kingpin of the first session of harness racing to be held at the 175-year-old agricultural exhibition in 32 years.

“The return of harness racing to the fair was rated a huge success” said Bangor Raceway’s Manager of Live Racing, Michael Hopkins, ” It was great to see the fans turn out to enjoy the races and the horsemen have been very supportive of bringing the races back to the fair. They gave up racing at bigger tracks for more money to come here to support the Bangor State Fair and we’re extremely grateful for that. We’re excited to carry this momentum toward bigger and better things at the fair in 2025 and beyond.”

Switzer’s grand slam driving performance was bookended by a pair of Maine Sire Stakes scores from the powerful Marc Tardif stable.

Stakes stars, Wes’s Challenge (1:58.1-$3.20) and Two Fold Cold (1:56.2-$2.20), both secured early front-end seats for Switzer before gliding through identical 57.3 back-halves en route to claiming top honors in the $16,191 and $16,416 stakes splits.

The win was the second of the season for Wes’s Challenge while Two Fold Cold remained a perfect four-for-four on the year.

Switzer’s overnight ovations came courtesy of an accomplished pair from the Neal Grass roster.

Grass’ back-to-back winning entries included Creepin (1:57.3-$18.80), who rode the pylon path before sneaking up the inside lanes to claim the 35th win of career, and his stablemate, Golden Tree (2:00-$6.80), who discouraged all challengers, soaring gate-to-wire, to claim his benchmark 40th lifetime score.

Maine’s fairground circuit will next swing into action at the Topsham Fair with five sessions of racing spread out over the first week of August. Topsham Fair will kick off its 170th season with a racing program scheduled for Sunday August 4, with post time slated for 3:00 p.m. (EDT).

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

by Mike Sweeney, for Bangor Raceway