Leigh Fitch Memorial set for Saturday

CUMBERLAND, ME – First Tracks Cumberland will honor the iconic and daring Maine harness driver Leigh Fitch with a memorial race on Saturday (Nov. 9).  The purse of $7,592 reflects the dash win total of his storied career, with a large contingent of family and friends expected to be on hand to pay homage to Fitch who passed away on Oct. 26 at the age of 79.

Journalist Jay Burns wrote, “his daring, rail-hugging driving style propelled him to 7,592 victories and more than anyone’s share of driving spills during a 53-year career. Fitch was one of the first great catch drivers in Maine, emerging a few years before Billy Parker Jr.”

Burns continued, “But speed and the front end were not what made Fitch famous in Maine. Instead, his style was iconoclastic, in keeping with his personality: independent, stubborn, and cagey. ‘I didn’t want to be like the others. I wanted to be myself.’ At a time when the perfect drive was the gentlemanly second-over trip described by Billy Haughton in the harness racing manual Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer, Fitch’s insurgent style disrupted that model, gaining him the nickname ‘The Fox.’ Rarely flushed off the rail, Fitch instead was often a rail skimmer who mastered the art of anticipating the opening of a seam late in the mile, using athletic reflexes and exquisite timing to feed his horse open racetrack. Fitch once said that ‘winning was life or death for me,’ and his driving style, safe but daring, meant brushes with the latter. It was the era of the wooden hub rail, and any driver working the inside late in the mile needed steely nerves.”

The Leigh Fitch Memorial, slated as race eight, features a group of top class of ‘winners over’ pacers who have collectively earned over $1.17 million and three with sub-1:51 time badges.  The early morning line favorite is Hespoisedtopounce (3-2, Aaron Hall) who scores from post five.  Trained by Jimmy Nickerson for owners Tim Bojarski and Tony Gruppo, the 8-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight has two wins and eight checks in his last ten starts.

Inside of the favorite is Vel Letsroll South (5-2, McGwire Sowers) who is trained by Autym Robinson for Mo Coo Inc., and enters the fray off a win in his last start.  A horse who also warrants consideration is Denver Seelster (9-2, Nick Graffam) who leaves from pylon position for trainer Chris Dubois and owner Mary Fernald.

The presentation will be made by special guest Chaplain Lee Alphen from the Christian Harness Horsemen’s Assoc.

Of course, the entire program has a lot of action for horse players with eight events boasting full seven or eight horse fields.  The Pick 5 starts with the third race and has a $605 carryover; our Pick 4 highlights the seventh, and our High-Five Pentafecta in the tenth and final race—all with low 16% takeouts.

The action continues on Sunday (Nov. 10) with another 10-race card of full fields.

First Tracks Cumberland’s Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting enjoys weekend action throughout the month of November.  Then, Cumberland Raceway will transition to three days of harness racing each week (Fri-Sat-Sun) beginning December 6.  The 19-day meet continues through Dec. 22, 2024, and post time is always 10:55 am.

For more information go to our website: firsttrackscumberland.com, or find us on Facebook: @FirstTracksCumberland

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

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland