Eleven qualifying races are in the books as the upcoming spring meet at Cumberland is taking shape. From a host of three-year-olds to 14-year-old Putnams Storm, there were more than 60 horses participating which represented nearly every class that the Southern Maine oval has to offer.

Under sunny skies and temps starting in the single Celsius digits and moving up into the teens by mid-afternoon, the track was fast and the race times were a reflection of the excellent job that the Cumberland track crew did in maintaining the surface over the long New England winter.

The day started off with a bang for the training/driving team of Jeff Deslandes and Dan Deslandes as the duo wrapped up the first three out of four races in 1:59.3 or faster.  Safety Second won the first race by five lengths; Mighty American N took the second event by a 3-1/4 margin; and Some Gold scored in number four by 2-1/2.

The fan-favourite grey gelding Putnams Storm, in the twilight of his career, was driven by his 85-year-old owner/trainer Bob Nadeau in a race captured by perennial leading reinsman Bruce Ranger’s own PBR Street Gang in 2:00.  We will be monitoring the dash wins closely as veteran horseman Ranger is just 35 wins away from career victory number 10,000. Ranger sits in twelfth place on the all-time active North American drivers list.

Aaron Hall won a pair with Alex Having Fun (1:58.2) and trotter Storm Bringer (2:03.3) while Drew Campbell copped the next two with Western Steep (2:01.1) and trotter Thruway (2:01). 

Nick Graffam also won two on the card, steering Miss Trickster (2:01.4) and Dragonfly (2:00.3) to victory.  Graffam’s familiar red-and-gold Norton Farm colors are also approaching a milestone.  The 33-year-old is just 26 victories away from the 1,000 win threshold.

The final race of the day was also the fastest, and was recorded by Cigars And Port, driven by Wally Watson to a 1:57.3 score.  Trained by Lisa Watson, the six-year-old son of So Surreal earned $61,375 last season and took a 1:50.1f record at Plainridge.

Race Secretary Rob Pennington orchestrated a very competitive qualifying card, in hopes of attracting much of this talent to the first draw for opening weekend.  A double draw shall be conducted for Friday & Saturday (April 14 & 15), with the box closing at 9 a.m. (EDT) on Tuesday (April 11).  The overnight condition sheet for the first week of racing is now available on the USTA’s online entry system.

In addition there are two ‘Spring Fling’ late closing series, to be raced the weekend of April 21 & 22.  The Track Master Rating conditioned events vie for an impressive $15,000 and $20,000 final purse respectively, the following weekend.  A complete condition sheet for the upcoming series is available on Cumberland's website.

First Track’s Cumberland Spring/Summer meet will continue throughout the Spring and early Summer months with regular racing on Friday and Saturday each weekend.  First post is slated for 3:15 p.m. (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through August 5.

(Cumberland)