Up-and-coming horseman Dakota Jackson made a bold, three-wide move down the backside with his own Rockaholic to win the $4,500 Maine Amateur Driving Club (MADC) race on Saturday (Nov. 6) at Cumberland.
Tipping to the outside past the three-eighths marker, Jackson was dead last going to the half and pushed three-deep through that good Southern Maine air to look the leaders in the eye around the final turn. As the pacers turned for home, Jackson urged the 11-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover to the front and emerged victorious with a length and a quarter advantage in 1:59.2.
Rockaholic is owned, trained and driven by Dakota Jackson, giving the 23-year-old reinsman his fourth career driving victory, and his first at Cumberland.
Eager to continue at the First Tracks’ facility, Jackson stated, “I claimed [Rockaholic] during Windsor Fair week and plan on having a horse to drive in the amateur races every week.”
Colorful Speech (post seven, Zach Vickerson) also rallied from behind to finish second. Three-year-old colt A Sweet Bidda Luck (post two, Scott McKenzie) set the tempo and hung on for third.
Rockaholic (post four) paid $12.80 to win, and coupled with Colorful Speech, the exacta paid $104.40.
In the second MADC split, group B, series heavyweight Benson Merrill steered Zampara to a perfect wire-to-wire score from post four, picking up his seventh victory of the season. The seven-year-old son of American Ideal was the wagering favourite and let no horse pass him, winning by a neck in 1:58.2 for owners Mo Coo Inc and Jonathan Klee Racing.
Dancin Hill (Alex Richardson) finished second and Baywood Shadow (Derek Howes) was third.
Also trained by Merrill, Zampara paid $2.60 to win.
As always, the Maine Amateur Driving Club is proudly sponsored by the good folks at Blue Seal Feeds of the Windham and North Yarmouth locations. Swag bucket trophies of stable supplies were presented by Aimee Nichols, the amiable territory manager for Blue Seal and Kent Feeds.
In the feature trot of the day, a $5,500 conditioned event, favourite Bend In The River (post five) did not disappoint his backers as driver Nick Graffam sat a perfect two-hole trip and shook loose at the head of the stretch to draw off and win by five lengths in 1:57.3.
Owned and trained by Stanley Whittemore, the eight-year-old son of Southfork picked up his seventh win of the season and first victory since a two-race win streak at the Fryeburg Fair.
High-stepping Bruizn (post six, Andy Harrington) finished second and local favourite Cherry Crown Jewel (post one, Matt Athearn) was third.
Bend In The River paid $3.20 to win the 27th race of his career.
For the on-track fans, the Trackside Pub hosted a special benefit for ‘Futures for Standardbreds.’ Round Up donations and raffles took place during the races, with t-shirt giveaways tossed by winning drivers throughout the card. Founded in 2014, Futures For Standardbreds is a Southern Maine-based nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization that has helped retrain and rehome dozens of Standardbreds when their racing careers are over. This event was held in collaboration with Blue Seal Feeds and First Tracks Cumberland, both of which help support Standardbred aftercare programs.
Racing continues at First Tracks Cumberland for its Winter Festival extended pari-mutuel meeting featuring back-to-back cards on Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 9 and 10) and continues weekly through December 31, 2021.
(With files from First Tracks Cumberland)