Four $21,000-plus divisions of Maine Sire Stakes were contested on Sunday, July 14 at historic Bass Park in Bangor for a trotting extravaganza, with each division represented by the Downeast faithful.
The action began just before the regular card with a $21,586 non-betting race for a trio of three-year-old trotting colts and geldings.
Pembroke Will (Heath Campbell) inherited pylon position due to the early miscue of Carrabassett (Mark Athern). He cut sensible fractions of :30.1 and 1:02 with stablemate Chipper Dale (Drew Campbell) tracking along closely in second and trailer Carrabassett catching the field by the half. As the troika approached the 1:33.1 third panel Carrabassett had jumped off stride again while the Campbell brothers began their battle to the finish. At the head of the stretch, Chipper Dale had poked a head in front and continued to gain ground through lane and prevailed over Pembroke Will by half a length in 2:03.
Trained by Valerie Grondin for owner/breeder Lynn-Marie Plouffe, the son of Shake It Off Lindy picked up his second win of the season in four outings and eighth career victory.
Interestingly, all three of the trotters in the race had been tied in the points standings, having traded 1-2-3 finishes the last three weeks.
Fifteen minutes later, in the $21,895 sophomore filly trot, trainer Grondin was back in the winner’s circle with Pembroke Breeze (pictured above). Driver Heath Campbell sent that three-year-old daughter of Pembroke Slugger out to the front and never looked back.
Setting evenly rated fractions of :30, 1:00.1 and 1:30, the trotting lass was seemingly on cruise control as she gained separation with every stanza. At the wire, Pembroke Breeze was on top by six lengths and scored in a lifetime best of 2:00.1, taking two and a fifth seconds off of her previous mark. Twisted Venture (Mike Cushing) finished second and My Saving Grace (Mark Athearn) was third.
Owned and bred by Bill Varney, Pembroke Breeze earned her third win in a row and has now thrust herself well atop the divisional point standings. She paid just $2.20 as the 1-9 favourite.
While Team Grondin swept the three-year-old divisions, Team Watson dominated the freshmen sets.
Whatawonder proved he was no fluke as he performed his second wire-to-wire romp in as many weeks, taking the $22,436 Maine Sire Stakes for two-year-old male trotters.
Dashing away from the car like a hoppled pacer, driver Ken Watson had Whatawonder on top by four before the first turn. From that point on, the son of Whataworkout needed no additional instructions as he led the field unabated and cruised home in 2:06.4, improving his win record from the week before. Libertys Wildcard (Walter Case Jr.) finished second and Katahdin Victor (Wally Watson) was third.
Whatawonder is trained by Lisa Watson for owner/breeder Barbara Lawson. He paid $4.60 to win.
The final $22,145 Maine Sire Stakes for freshman filly trotters was another episode of the Watson power hour as they sent Katahdin Mistress out for her first big victory of the season.
As the gate sprung, several breakers caused a reshuffling of the deck which allowed Kenny Watson to put Lady Lake Marty on the front end. Heading into a 33-second opening panel, Wally Watson shot like a rocket down the backstretch with Katahdin Mistress to wrest command from his brother. The daughter of Victor Blue Chip was sent down the road from that point and proceeded to making every call a winning one as she hit the timer in 2:08.1, a new lifetime mark. Little Shot (Ivan Davies) finished second and Lady Lake Marty was third.
Owned and bred by James Kelley Jr. and Betsey Kelley, Katahdin Mistress is trained by Lisa Watson. She paid $7.80 to win.
The Maine Sire Stakes continues this week at Bangor with two divisions for two-year-old male pacers on Wednesday, July 17, and then ships south to Cumberland on Saturday, July 20 for the two-year-old filly pacers.
(With files from Maine Sire Stakes)