When Race Secretary Rob Pennington opened the box for Cumberland’s opening weekend, he was pleased to find over 150 horses had been dropped in for the double draw for this Friday and Saturday (April 14-15).
“We had anticipated robust interest and we were not disappointed,” noted Pennington.
Presiding Judge Charles Malia echoed those sentiments.
“These guys are eager race after being off for the last three months," said Malia. "Saturday’s qualifiers were strong, which is always a good indicator of preparedness.”
While Pennington, and his new assistant race secretary/charter Andrew Topham, sorted through the myriad of entries, one thing was abundantly clear.
“Overall, the racehorses entered represent a large group of dedicated Maine horsepeople,” said Pennington.
Certainly with more than 40 different conditioners represented, the spring opener has brought the Pine Tree State faithful back to Cumberland.
Friday’s card features nine races on the program, with every event carrying a full field of either seven or eight horses with their noses on the Wes Brown starting gate. The co-featured events of the day are the fourth and seventh races, both $4,800 conditioned paces.
The fourth, for fillies and mares, pits Patajali N (driver Bruce Ranger, 5-2 morning line odds) against Electrocuted (Dan Deslandes, 2-1), who score from posts one and two, respectively. Both mares earned nearly $55,000 last season with a combined win total of 37 lifetime.
Race seven is the boys version of the non-winners of $2,500 last five, with Lovethewayyoulie (Aaron Hall, 2-1) leading the charge with $33,921 earned in 2022. Second choice is Jo Pas Sweet Lout (Wally Watson, 4-1), who was 1-2-3 in 14 of 32 outings last season.
Fans and punters that attend Friday’s opener and buy a program on-track will receive a free program for Saturday.
Saturday’s card features two Winners Over $10,000 handicaps with $6,000 in purse money, one for each gait. The fifth race has an Ohio invader, McStoned Again (Kevin Switzer Jr., 8-5), making a significant class drop to be assigned the outside post position for the diagonally-gaited set. For the pacers in race seven, Lexus Witha View A (Kevin Switzer Jr., 1-1) also emanated from the Buckeye State and will look to grab this one having found a much softer landing Down East.
Saturday’s card features 10 races with post time for both days at 3:15 pm.
Horsepeople are reminded to check the condition sheet for the track's 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 at firsttrackscumberland.com.
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 pm (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through Aug. 5
(With files from First Tracks Cumberland)