There was no sibling rivalry in trainer Michael Huff’s barn on Sunday night, June 1. No taunts of "I’m better than you are" or "Mom likes me best" could be heard being lobbed from stall to stall. Instead, shared pride and equity created an aura of family tranquility as sister racehorses, Rolandpeg and Orrsterror, both came home victorious after winning their respective races at Bangor Raceway.
Owned in tandem by New Brunswick breeder Dale Orr of Saint John and Robert Orr of Oak Bay, the Maritime homebreds are both daughters of the broodmare, Kaylas Sophia, she herself an offspring of the world champion and Ontario foundation stallion, Apaches Fame.
Both sisters cut their teeth along the Maritime harness circuit, each breaking their maidens at Saint John’s Exhibition Park Raceway and each scoring five wins apiece racing at various venues in their native land.
In recent years though, after the shuttering of Exhibition Park, they have become stalwarts at Bangor Raceway. After crossing the international border into Maine, combined, the sisters have won 23 races.
Rolandpeg ($4.20), the eldest of the sisters at eight years old, scored her 17th career win on Sunday, throwing in an evenly rated 2:01.3 front-end mile for driver Shawn Thayer. The win was the third of the year from just six seasonal trips for the daughter of Varadero Hanover.
Little sister Orrsterror ($2.40), benefitted as Thayer aptly defined the term “push button drive,” hustling his charge smartly to the quarter in :29.1 before lulling the competition to sleep through a devious :32.1 second panel. An energetic :58.4 back-half sealed the competition’s fate as the six-year-old daughter of Stonebridge Terror secured her 16th career victory, winning in 2:00.3.
The sisters' wins bookended a driving triple for Thayer on Sunday, who also went down the road with Lexus With A View A ($6.20) in 2:00.1 for trainer Jamie Gerard.
In other Bangor news, the front-end track bias continued on Sunday with all 10 winners coming in gate-to-wire fashion. Remarkably, over the course of the last three programs at Bangor, front-end speed has held up in 25 of the 27 miles contested.
Also on Sunday, driver Heath Campbell engineered the fastest mile yet recorded this meeting at Bangor when JK Objection ($3.20) toured the oval in an aggressive 1:56.1 for trainer Valerie Grondin. The mile was all the more impressive considering that Campbell’s sulky crossed the wire sporting a flat tire!
Bangor Raceway will showcase live harness racing throughout the mid-summer season, featuring sessions on Wednesday afternoons with a 3 p.m. post time and the popular Sunday matinees going to post at 12:10 p.m.
(With files from Bangor Raceway; photo of Rolandpeg winning on June 1)