Bangor, Maine.… From venue to venue, the Maine harness racing track has become the personal playground for driver Kevin Switzer, Jr. this season.
Switzer has been dominant on this summer’s fair tour, collecting all the hardware at all five of Maine’s pairs-mutuel fairs, claiming driving titles at Topsham, Skowhegan, Windsor, Farmington and the Fryeburg Fairs, while topping the leaderboard at both Bangor Raceway and First Tracks Cumberland, the two commercial tracks of Maine.
And on the opening day of the fall meeting at Bangor Raceway on Wednesday (October 8), Switzer picked up where he left off before venturing into his conquest of the fairground ovals, scoring four wins from the twelve-race program while cementing his long-standing status as King of the Queen City Oval.
Switzer controlled the race track on Wednesday and continually forged repeat early leads as he brought home all four of his winners on gate-to-wire orders.
Included in Switzer’s grand-slam streak were scores from Real Thing (1:57.1-$3.60) and Shaggy (1:59.2-$2.60), both from Richard Allaby’s lightning-quick roster, quickly followed by an impressive win behind Liam’s Ace (1:57.1-$2.20) that paid dimes to dollars while he plowed through a back-half of 57.3 without help for trainer Erik Bickmore. The win was one of two on the card for the Bickmore barn.
LIAM’S ACE REPEAT
Switzer rounded off his opening day conquest in grand style, securing the 55th career win for Golden Tree (1:59.4-$6.20) while holding off a determined overland challenge from Blueberry Heaven and exciting new provisional driver, James Doucette, with a fading head.
“I’m very blessed,” Switzer noted, “I ride for a lot of talented trainers and I have a great support group at home. They really help me get through the days when I don’t want to get in the truck and drive two and a half hours seven days a week to race, but the run I’ve done since early July is probably the best run I’ve ever done in my life.”
Switzer currently has a 10-win lead over Heath Campbell in the Bangor Raceway driver standings and a six-win lead over McGwire Sowers in the First Tracks Cumberland standings. With ten days of racing remaining in Bangor before First Tracks Cumberland’s 17-day winter meeting, the opportunity exists for Switzer to achieve the unprecedented performance and win driving titles at each of Maine’s racing venues.
And that would be a nice run indeed.
In other Bangor news, drivers Aaron Hall and McGwire Sowers scored twice each on Wednesday, while trainer Jamie Gerard joined Allaby and Bickmore with two wins from his well-conditioned squad.
Trainer Mark Harris continued on Wednesday with his razor-sharp, Venice Blue Chip (1:57.2-$2.80), drifting from pillar to post to secure her fourth straight win with driver Wallace Watson driving the lines.
Bangor Raceway will host the $400,000 (Plus) Maine Sire Stakes Sophomore Championships on Saturday (October 11), with post time scheduled for 3:00 PM (EDT). The card also includes the $25,000 extension of the Fred Nichols Memorial Invitational, Bangor’s premier event of the season.
Live harness racing continues on Sunday (Oct. 12) with a post time of 12:10 p.m., and will be shown three days a week after the opening week in October with post times of 3 p.m. (EDT) for the Wednesday twilight cards and with 12:10 p.m. start times for the Saturday and Sunday matinees.
For those who can’t make it to the track, betting and live video for Bangor Raceway, as well as hundreds of harness and thoroughbred racing tracks around the world, are available on Hollywood Races at www.hollywoodraces.com (http://www.hollywoodraces.
For complete information on live racing, simulcast betting, gaming, dining and hotel accommodations at Bangor’s Hollywood Casino and Raceway, visit the website at www.hollywoodcasinobangor.com (http://www.
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
Through Mike Sweeney for Bangor Raceway
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