Gabe Prewitt to call the races at Cumberland Run

CORBIN, Ky. (Friday, Oct. 13, 2023) — It will be a new track for horsemen but a familiar voice calling the races when Cumberland Run’s harness racing meet begins Sunday.

Gabe Prewitt, the announcer at The Red Mile along with serving as the Lexington track’s vice president of racing operation and sports wagering, will be behind the mic for Cumberland Run’s 12-day meet that runs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays through Nov. 7.

Admission and parking are free at Cumberland Run, as is Sunday’s carnival featuring rides and games to celebrate the opening card. All ages are welcome to attend the races and the carnival. However, The Mint Gaming Hall building that houses electronic gaming, simulcasting of horse racing at other tracks and sports betting is restricted to those at least 21 years old.

Prewitt, 40, is not only a Red Mile veteran but was the voice of Pompano Park for nine years before that prominent south Florida track closed last year. He is a regular fill-in calling Gulfstream Park’s thoroughbred races when Pete Aiello goes on vacation.

Asked the difference between calling harness and thoroughbred races, Prewitt said, “I think anyone who does one more than the other always says the other one is harder. Myself included. You talk to Pete or Larry Collmus (announcer for Kentucky Downs, Del Mar and NBC), they always act like harness is so much harder, the way the race sets up — this, that and the other. Myself, I’m more familiar with harness so calling thoroughbreds is a little more of a job for me. It’s all about what you’re used to. Thoroughbreds, the movement is a lot more sudden. Horses can make a sweeping move or change positions in a lot faster manner. With harness, you see the setup of the race coming and developing.”

Prewitt, a University of Kentucky graduate who was raised in Mount Sterling, said, “I grew up on thoroughbreds, just going to the track. Then I moved right across from The Red Mile when I went to college. The first two, three weeks I was there, I had a buddy go, ‘Hey Gabe, you want to go to The Red Mile to bet the horses?’ I said, ‘They racehorses there? Yeah, let’s go.’”

A job as a mutuel clerk selling and cashing tickets led to Prewitt calling the first couple of races on nights when the announcer at the time, Kevin Mack, got hung up working in the racing office. Mack now is Cumberland Run’s racing secretary.

“I was horrific, never thought about doing it,” Prewitt said laughingly of a career as an announcer. “Eventually (Mack) left and moved on to full time at Hoosier Park. Just out of being the only guy on the property who had announced a horse race, they kind of pushed me into that position.”

Now Prewitt is an industry fixture with a large social-media presence. Follow him on X/Twitter @Gabe_Prewitt.

Prewitt said he heard a lot of enthusiasm for Cumberland Run among horsemen during The Red Mile’s prestigious Grand Circuit meet that concluded last week. He said standardbred horsemen are increasingly purchasing farms in Kentucky, including some who plan to build training tracks where they can base their stables.

“It’s a good solid circuit where people can live here and base here,” Prewitt said of Kentucky, adding of Cumberland Run’s purses, “It’s a good amount of money, a meaningful amount of money. I think you’ll see that with the horse population that shows up there.

“… To see where (the Kentucky standardbred industry) has come now, a renaissance so to speak, it’s really cool and exciting. I think it’s great for the breeders, the owners, trainers, drivers, everyone. I talked to guys during the Grand Circuit, some pretty big names, asking me about the location of the track, saying, ‘I’m thinking about moving down here. Race at the Kentucky tracks, base out of here and travel.’ You’re hearing things like that that you wouldn’t have thought of a few years ago.”

Ten races on tap for Sunday’s opener

Racing secretary Kevin Mack carded 10 races for Sunday’s opening program, including four Kentucky Sire Stakes carrying purses of $30,000. There are two Sire Stakes apiece for 2-year-old filly pacers and 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers. Total purses for the opening card is $198,000, including a $20,000 open pace.

The inaugural Cumberland Run meet kicks off with Seeuontheotherside — bred, owned and trained by Anette Lorentzon of Paris, Ky. — as the 2-1 favorite in a division of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for 2-year-old filly pacers.

While Seeuontheotherside in winless in eight starts, she has two seconds and two thirds while competing against tough company at The Red Mile, including a third in the $400,000 final Kentucky Sire Stakes series in Lexington. The winner that day was 8 for 8 Geocentric.

The second Sire Stakes division (race 8) for 2-year-old filly pacers is headed by 9-5 favorite Asweetbeachhere, coming off a very close third in the International Stallion Stakes Oct. 6 at The Red Mile.

Steely Knife, who had four seconds and a fourth at The Red Mile, and Tua Many Captains, who had four thirds and a fourth in different races at Lexington, head the Kentucky Sire Stakes’ first division (race 5) for 2-year-old colts and geldings. Tua Many Captains won the $100,000 Sire Stakes final at Oak Grove, near Fort Campbell, and most recently was third in The Red Mile’s Sire Stakes final on Sept. 17. Tua Many Captains is trained by Julie Miller and driven by her husband, Andy Miller, a leading driver at The Meadowlands and on the Grand Circuit.

The Eric Patalan-trained Arson brings a 6-for-10 record — including four wins in the Golden Rod Series at The Red Mile – into the Sire Stakes’ 2-year-old boys’ second division (race 9).

The $20,000 open pace (race 4) provides a snapshot of the resilience of the standardbred horse. The 9-5 favorite is the 8-year-old gelding Im Sir Blake A, who has won 32 of 104 starts, earning $435,347. Among the other favorites is 9-2 Mike’s Z Tam, a 9-year-old who has won 42 of 189 starts while making $733,958.

Cumberland Run: Big names turn out for new track

Some of harness racing’s winningest trainers and drivers will have horses competing at Cumberland Run.

Ron Burke — harness racing’s all-time leading trainer by wins (14,274 heading into Saturday) and purse earnings (more than $317 million) has four horses from his stable racing on the opening card. All four are scheduled to be ridden by fellow Hall of Famer David Miller, winner of 287 races and $8.8 million in purses so far in 2023.

Erv Miller, also one of the sport’s all-time winningest trainers, sends out favored $127,360 winner Asweetbeachhere against the Burke-trained Monsoon in Sunday’s eighth race. That field also includes the Tony Alagna-trained In Or Out, who is scheduled to be driven by Tim Tetrick, whose $10.8 million in purses rank No. 2 in 2023 in America.

Alagna, who currently ranks No. 3 in 2023 purse earnings at $6.15 million, has 10 horses entered for Sunday, including two in several races. Alagna was The Red Mile’s winningest trainer this year with 41 victories and $2.07 million in purses. Alagna won the 2020 Hambletonian for 3-year-old trotters – regarded as harness racing’s greatest race – with the filly Ramona Hill.

Monday’s nine-race card will have four $30,000 divisions of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for 2-year-old trotters – two races apiece for fillies and for colts and geldings.

Tuesday offers 11 pari-mutuel races, including three $35,000 Sire Stakes races for 4-year-olds. That will be preceded by a three-horse non-betting version of the Sire Stakes for 4-year-old male trotters. That race goes off at 12:40 p.m.

To avoid confusion: There is another harness track with “Cumberland” in the name. That’s First Tracks Cumberland in Cumberland, Maine, just north of Portland. The tracks overlap one day: Sunday, Nov. 5.

From Cumberland Run