For the second time this season, Windsor Fair hosted two $23,000-plus divisions of the Maine Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies. The encore performances on Sunday, Aug. 31 pitted several of the division’s leading competitors against one another, with each trying to make their own case for class supremacy.

During the first $23,565 division for sophomore pacing distaffs, the Maine faithful witnessed their 4-5 favourite Lysiun scoot out to an early lead, towing the pack through a :29.3 opening panel for Ron Cushing. Making her second start back after a month-long hiatus, Lysiun had put three lengths between her and the pocket-sitting Chasing Dudes and Nick Graffam.

By the :59.3 midway marker, Lysiun appeared to be well in command, with the pocket-sitter filling in the gap through the third-quarter in 1:29.4.  Graffam tipped 3-2 second choice Chasing Dudes to the outside around the final turn to engage the pacesetter, who made an unsettling break while rounding the seven-eighths marker. Chasing Dudes went on to win in 2:00.2 by 2-1/2 lengths having avoided the fracas around the final turn. Dudes Pretty Chick (Heath Campbell) finished second and Lysiun held on for third.

Chasing Dudes is trained and co-owned by Mike Graffam, who shares ownership with breeder Bob Marston. The win was the filly’s second straight and fourth of the season in eight starts. The daughter of Dudes The Man-Caviart Caterina went over the $200,000 mark in career earnings. She paid $5 to win.

In the second $23,563 division, the leading point-earning filly in the division, Leanne Marie, was given her head and she responded by pacing right to the top for driver Mike Cushing. Post time favourite Glorilla (Aaron Hall) ducked in the two-hole with Whisper Of Luck (Andy Harrington) sitting third past the :30 second opening panel.

There was no movement through the 1:01.1 half-mile point, with 9-5 second choice Leanne Marie enjoying a comfortable 1-1/2-length advantage. While heading to the 1:31 third panel, Hall tipped Glorilla, who came into the race on a three-race win streak, but then jumped off stride while engaging the leader around the final turn.

With Glorilla out of the picture, the pocket-inheriting Whisper Of Luck made a hard charge on the outside, and Ruff Dudes Jena (Dave Ingraham) snuck up the inside to make it a three-horse photo finish at the wire. Leanne Marie did prevail by a tight half of a length in 2:01. Whisper Of Luck finished second and Ruff Dudes Jena was third.

Trained by Charlene ‘Sherry’ Cushing, who co-owns and bred with Pamela Smith and Jane DiPompo, the daughter of Artistic Fella-Zoe Blue Chip picked up her fifth win of the season in nine starts, pushing her career bankroll to $132,048. She paid $5.60 to win.

The Maine Sire Stakes concludes at the Windsor Fair with the two-year-old colt pacers on Monday, the final day of Labour Day weekend. Sophomore pacing colts and gelding head back to Bangor on Wednesday.

June Parker continued her fairground rampage on Sunday, scoring her seventh consecutive win with a thrilling victory at the Windsor Fair.

The streak, which began with a pair of late July wins at First Tracks Cumberland, has become etched into the consciousness of the Pine Tree State punters as she has ventured out onto Maine’s famed fairground circuit, and includes a win at the Topsham Fair, a pair of wins at the Skowhegan State Fair, and now two top tallies at the Windsor Fair.

Regular pilot Kevin Switzer Jr. hustled his charge smartly off the car on Sunday, only to encounter a stern early challenge from Orrsterror (Drew Campbell), who challenged the streaking mare for early supremacy. Strung to the quarter in a brisk :27.2, Switzer was able to engineer a calmer second panel split, reaching the half in a refreshing :57.4, despite being pestered by Vel Miss Taylor (McGwire Sowers), who had been parked to the outside since the get go.

Vel Miss Taylor continued to gamely press the pacesetter though, as she and June Parker matched strides through the paddock turn. Reaching the three-quarter pole in a well-contested 1:26.3, June Parker was finally able to shake her outside opponent, only to immediately face renewed pressure from the pocket-pulling Orrsterror. Inching closer to the front-runner with each and every stride, Orrsterror made frightening progress toward the upset of the fan favourite, only to come up a mere three-quarters of a length short at the wire as the streaking June Parker refused to be headed.

June Parker, a five-year-old daughter of Millionaire Cam and Renovation owned and trained by Ryan Berry, has now amassed 22 career victories and took a new lifetime mark on Sunday, touring the Windsor oval in a dazzling 1:55.3.

The win was one of four on the program for Switzer, who now boasts 22 top tallies earned over the first eight sessions of the Windsor meet. With one day of racing remaining, it is a mathematical impossibility that Switzer will be denied the 2025 Windsor driving championship; an honour that he will add to the driving titles already earned at Maine’s previous two fairs, Topsham and Skowhegan. 

(With files from Maine Sire Stakes & Windsor Fair)