Maine-bred pacing fillies take center stage

CUMBERLAND, ME – Maine-bred pacing fillies take center stage over the weekend card at  Cumberland Raceway, with the 2-year-old distaffs racing Friday (July 11), and the Saturday (July 12) program hosting the sophomore filly sidesteppers.

Friday’s program kicks off at the regular 3:15 pm post time with two $11,448 divisions of the Maine Sire Stakes for freshmen pacing fillies.  All ten participants are making their first pari-mutuel start, as well as their first purse race.

Once again, daughters of Dude’s The Man are not in short supply.  Three such foals by the Adios-winning sire start in the first division, with Heymickeyyousofine (3-1, John Nason) having the swiftest winning qualifier of the group.

In the second $11,448 division for 2-year-old pacing fillies the early morning line favorite is McKenna Jeanne (5-2, Heath Campbell) who is trained by Gary Hall.  The Dude’s The Man-lass won her qualifier last week by over six lengths and has had two such preparatory outings.

A $7,500 Pop Up Final Trot highlights the overnight racing action, with Namesmuscle (5-2, Aaron Hall) the favorite in lieu of his recent wire-to-wire effort.

The Saturday (July 11) program features two $11,926 divisions of the Maine Sire Stakes for 3-year-old pacing fillies.

Leanne Marie (3-1, Mike Cushing) drew pylon position in the opener, and currently sits second in the point standings.  Third place belongs to Chasing Dudes (2-1, Nick Graffam) who scores from post five in the week four Maine-bred test.

In the second $11,926 division the series leader, Lysiun, with three straight wins to her credit gets a new pilot in Aaron Hall for trainer Heidi Cushing.  The daughter of Dude’s The Man has been installed as the 8-5 favorite, despite having drawn the outside post six.

For punters, there is a Trifecta in all races, and the program also features a surplus

of exotic wagers.  Cumberland’s Pick 5 begins with the third race, and continues with our Pick 4 and Pick 3 toward the tail end of the program, and concludes with our High-Five Pentafecta in the final race—all with low 16% takeouts.

Live video and replays can be found on our website: firsttrackscumberland.com on the Live Racing / Video Replays tab.

First Track’s Cumberland Summer meet will continue throughout the Summer months with regular racing on Friday and Saturday each weekend.  An additional card has been added for Sunday, July 27.  First post is slated for 3:15 pm (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through August 2.

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

by Chris Tully, for the Maine Sire Stakes