Big Al M returned to his winning ways last week, after a dry spell going back to September. However, this week the veteran trotter has been saddled with post position eight in the $5,500 USD top trot on Saturday (Nov. 22) at First Tracks Cumberland.
While the seven-year-old son of Anders Bluestone has picked up nine victories this season, including a pair of wins a Cumberland with his owner/trainer Zach Vickerson in the sulky, and is the winner of 31 races and $557,934 in his career, the question remains: can the accomplished trotter get the job done from the outermost starting point?
Last week top reinsman Kevin Switzer Jr. put Big Al M right on the front end and took care of business by fending off the late charge of Brutalizer with Andy Harrington at the controls. Regardless of post, Big Al M has been installed as the 2-1 early morning line favourite from the outside, and retains the sulky services of Switzer Jr.
The Trackman’s second pick is Valyrian Steel (5-2, Cain MacKenzie) who has five wins this year and never misses a cheque. He scores from post two.
The third choice is Brutalizer from post seven (4-1, Andy Harrington) who has six wins on the season and has been second in his last two starts for his new connections.
The $5,500 USD featured trot is programmed as race nine on the 11-race card.
Veteran teamster ‘Double-digit Dave’ Ingraham is very close to his 8,000th career victory, now sitting at 7,996 lifetime wins. Over the weekend Ingraham has 15 drives: eight on Saturday and seven on Sunday.
Driving harness horses since 1980, the 63-year-old has 69 wins this year with earnings of $816,037. Over his 45-year career he has driven the winners of over $33 million and enjoyed a dozen seasons with a million or more in earnings. His statistically best year was 1995 where the Maine-native won 403 races and $2.7 million in purses.
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. 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)