Sisters sizzle sibling-style at Bangor

Bangor, Maine …. There was no sibling rivalry in trainer Michael Huff’s harness racing barn on Sunday (June 1) night. No taunts of “I’m better than you are” or “Mom likes me best” could be heard being lobbed from stall to stall. Instead, shared pride and equity created an aura of family tranquility as sister racehorses, Rolandpeg (Varadero Hanover) and Orrsterror (Stonebridge Terror) both came home victorious after winning their respective races at Bangor Raceway.

Owned in tandem by Dale and Robert Orr of St John and Oak Bay, New Brunswick, Canada, the Maritime home-breds are both daughters of the broodmare, Kaylas Sophia, she herself an offspring of the world champion and Ontario foundation stallion, Apaches Fame.

Both sisters cut their teeth along the Maritime harness circuit, each breaking their maidens at St John’s Exhibition Park and each scoring five wins apiece racing at various venues in their native land.

In recent years though, after the shuttering of Exhibition Park, they have become stalwarts, racing for significantly higher purses, at Bangor Raceway. After crossing the international border into Maine, combined, the sisters have won 23 races since becoming expats.

Rolandpeg (2:01.3-$4.20), the eldest of the sisters, scored her 17th career win on Sunday, throwing in an evenly rated frontend mile for driver Shawn Thayer. The win was the third of the year from just six seasonal trips for the daughter of Varadero Hanover.

ROLANDPEG REPLAY

Little sister, Orrsterror (2:00.3-$2.40), benefited as Thayer aptly defined the term “push button drive”, hustling his charge smartly to the quarter in :29.1 before lulling the competition to sleep through a devious 32.1 second panel. An energetic 58.4 back-half sealed the competition’s fate as the daughter of Stonebridge Terror secured her 16th career victory.

The sister’s wins bookended a driving triple for Thayer on Sunday, who also sped on down the highway with Lexus With A View A (2:00.1-$6.20) for trainer Jamie Gerard.

ORRSTERROR REPLAY

In other Bangor news, the front-end track bias continued on Sunday with all ten winners coming in gate-to-wire fashion. Remarkably, over the course of the last three programs at Bangor, front-end speed has held up in 25 of the 27 miles contested.

Also on Sunday, driver Heath Campbell engineered the fastest mile yet recorded this meeting at Bangor when JK Objection ($3.20) toured the oval in an aggressive 1:56.1 for trainer Valerie Grondin. The mile was all the more impressive considering that Campbell’s sulky crossed the wire sporting a flat tire!

Bangor Raceway will showcase live harness racing throughout the mid-summer season, featuring sessions on Wednesday afternoons with a 3:00 pm post time, and the popular Sunday matinees going to post at 12:10 pm.

For those not able to come to the track, wagering and live video for Bangor Raceway, as well as hundreds of harness and thoroughbred racetracks across the world, is available on Hollywood Races at www.hollywoodraces.com.

For complete information regarding live racing, simulcast wagering, gaming, dining, and hotel accommodations at Bangor’s Hollywood Casino and Raceway, please visit the website at www.hollywoodcasinobangor.com.

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

by Mike Sweeney, for Bangor Raceway