Nets Of Passion moves Stevenson closer to 2,000

CUMBERLAND, ME – Harness racing driver Mike Stevenson won the $4,500 co-feature at Cumberland on Wednesday (Dec. 1) with Nets Of Passion, which put him just four wins away from 2,000 lifetime victories.

Scoring from post five, Stevenson left alertly with the 5-year-old son of Net Ten Eom, and pushed the gelding through brisk fractions of 28.2, 59.3, 1:28 to draw off and win by over three lengths in 1:58.

Owned and trained by Steve LaCasse, this was Nets Of Passion’s seventh victory of the season.  Son Of Plato (John Nason) finished second; So It Goes (Nick Graffam) was third.

Nets Of Passion paid $3.00 to win.

NETS OF PASSION REPLAY

Stevenson, a New Brunswick native has settled in Maine and makes Cumberland his home base and has several drives on the next racing program for Saturday (Dec. 4).  Entering his fifth decade as a reinsman, Stevenson recently broke through the $8 million lifetime money won plateau, with $770,563 earned this season.

Some of his success this year could be attributed to the Gordon Corey-trained 3-year-old pacer Call Me Maverick.  A home-bred son of Western Maverick, the steadfast side-wheeler dominated Maine’s glamour boys division and earned $153,908 with 11 wins in 15 starts this season with Stevenson at the controls.

The other $4,500 co-feature was won by Plainridge invader Cash Vaughan and driver/trainer Todd O’Dea.  Leaving from post two, O’Dea was content to let Through The Fence (Walter Case Jr.) and I’m A Clown (Ranger) tussle for the lead going into the first turn.

While sitting third with little or no pressure to the three-quarters, O’Dea tipped Cash Vaughan out and around I’m A Clown who was sitting second.  By the final turn Cash Vaughn was looking Through The Fence right in the eye, and went right on by.

Winning in 1:59.1, and owned by Eric Dickson, Cash Vaughan paid $6.00 to win.  Through The Fence finished second, Come On Raggs (Aaron Hall) got up for a close third.

CASH VAUGHAN REPLAY

The rest of the day belonged to Dan Deslandes, who won three, and Andrew Harrington, who picked up the other two events on the eight-race card.

Racing resumes on Saturday (Dec. 4), with a full 11-race program which begins at 11:00 a.m.  The card features three separate classes for open pacers as well as three divisions of the Maine Amateur Driving Club, which is sponsored by the Blue Seal Feed stores of North Yarmouth and Windham, Maine.

The Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting continues with live harness racing several days each week through December 31, 2021.

For full race results, click here.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland