Snowonthepines remained undefeated in seven starts with a dominant lifetime-best victory in the $23,783 first division of the Maine Sire Stakes seventh leg for rookie pacing fillies, held as a non-betting event before the main card, on Saturday, Sept. 6 at Bangor Raceway.
Bruce Ranger had the lines as Snowonthepines rattled off :28.2, :58.4, and 1:28.2 fractions on the front and romped by 5-1/2 lengths in 1:58.3. Just Delightful (Ron Cushing) finished second, with Artistic Girl (Andrew Harrington) well back in third. Snowonthepines, a homebred daughter of Dudes The Man-Snow Cone A, has now earned $67,124. Marc Tardif trains her for Leighton Property.
Perfectly Lovely captured the $23,921 second division, cutting the mile with Aaron Hall aboard. The daughter of Western Maverick-Perfect Launch put up splits of :29.4, 1:00.4, and 1:31.2 and extended her margin to three lengths in the last quarter, stopping the timer in a career-best 2:01.3. Shes A Firefly (Nick Graffam) held off Graceofspades (David Ingraham) for third. Perfectly Lovely won for the second time in seven outings and upped her bankroll to $40,625. Jimmy Nickerson conditions the filly for Joseph Trice.
Ranger, behind Snowonthepines, was the first to benefit from the absence of Bangor’s top driver, Kevin Switzer, Jr., who begrudgingly called in sick for the day. That made 12 quality catch drives available, and after they were all doled out to worthy recipients, six of Switzer’s programmed drives came up aces.
Ranger also won with Sleazy Rolls (1:58-$3.60), whom Switzer was scheduled to drive, in the pari-mutuel opener.
Two of Aaron Hall’s three Saturday scores came aboard Switzer-vacated drives, initially with a powerful gate-to-wire romp with Smokin By N (1:57.3-$2.80), and then with a rally with Wolftrax (1:56.4-$22.20) from 12-1/2 lengths off the speed at the half to three-quarters-of-a-length the best at the wire.
Nick Graffam made some magic of his own after replacing Switzer behind Show Me The Magic (2:02.2-$5.60), one of two training wins from the Benson Merrill roster, and then Wallace Watson brought the sixth of Switzer’s missed drives home, winning aboard The Shining (1:56.4-$5.40).
Despite his absence from what likely would have been a profitable day, Switzer remained at the top of the charts at Bangor, leading all drivers at the Queen City oval with 38 wins at the meeting. He is followed closely by perennial powerhouse Heath Campbell, who ushered home three winners on Saturday’s card to push his meet-long tally to 31.
Bangor’s September meet continues on Sunday, with post time slated for 12:10 p.m. and will conclude with a 3:00 p.m. mid-afternoon card on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
(Bangor Raceway & Standardbred Canada)