Zach Vickerson has already won with his trotter Big Al M several times this season at Cumberland Raceway.  After a winless October at Saratoga, the Portland conditioner hopes that Big Al M will go a big Maine mile on Saturday (Nov. 15).

The seven-year-old son of Anders Bluestone has accrued eight victories this season, including a pair of wins a Cumberland with his owner/trainer in the sulky.  A winner of 30 races and $554,061 in his career, the veteran trotter has now earned more than $62,000 this year.

His last score came during ‘Fair week’ at the iconic Southern oval, with Kevin Switzer Jr. at the lines in a wire-to-wire 1:58.4 effort. Since then he has been struggling in the Open Trots at Saratoga with bad posts and an uncharacteristic miscue.  Nonetheless, Big Al M has been installed as the 9-5 early morning line favourite from post four, and is reunited with Switzer Jr. and looks to take much of the public interest.

The Trackman’s second pick is Brutalizer (PP1, Andy Harrington) who has two wins in his last four starts and hasn’t been worse than third since campaigning at Harrington Raceway this past summer. This is his second start out of the Sara Harrington stable, and is pegged at 5-2.

The $5,500 USD featured trot is programmed as race eight on the 11-race card. The Pick 5 starts with the third race, the Pick 4 highlights the seventh, and the High-Five Pentafecta is offered in the finale — all with 16 per cent takeouts.

Racing continues on Sunday (Nov. 16) at First Tracks Cumberland with a 13-race card.  The Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting enjoys weekend action throughout the month of November.  Cumberland Raceway will transition to three days of harness racing each week (Fri-Sat-Sun) beginning December 5.  The 18-day meet runs until Dec. 21, 2025.

(First Tracks Cumberland)