Tropical Trice continued her pursuit of Sire Stakes perfection as the Maine-bred daughter of Current Cast-Sharra Blue Chip won her second consecutive state-bred battle to remain undefeated in the sophomore program as the Maine Sire Stakes sophomore trotting divisions returned to the harness racing meeting at Scarborough Downs on Thursday (7/9).
Driver Ron Cushing once again showcased the filly's tenacious ability while engaging the front-running Kisses (Kim Ireland) in a dogged overland battle through the final two-furlongs before gliding to the wire in a leisurely 2:02.5 for owner and namesake Joseph Trice and trainer Heidi Gibbs.
Rhonwen (Ivan Davis) threw in a strong rally bid to secure the bridesmaid share while Kisses settled for third best.
Pembroke Jack B returned to form in the first colt split of stakes competition on mid-week card, making amends for a costly pre-start break in last week's contest and delighting the crowd by paying dimes to dollars as the prohibitive 1-9 betting favorite in the $11,433 contest.
The three-year-old son of CR Power Glide-Dark Lady won for the 6th time in his career at the urging of driver Heath Campbell, claiming a new lifetime mark of 2:03.3 in the process.
The Maine-bred is trained by Valerie Grondin for owner/breeder William Varney.
Noble Neeley (Kevin Switzer, Jr.) was second while Wyatt Hayes (David Ingraham) finished third.
Broadway Cast sought and won revenge over Sampsonofravencast in the final $11,658 stakes split of the twilight card as the sons of Current Cast repeatedly engaged each other in a determined give and take battle to turn the tables over last week's outcome.
The Don Richards trained entry took a brand new lifetime mark in the process, stopping the clock timed in 2:00.2 in harness to driver Mark Athearn, for noted co-owners Thomas Dillon and Walter Hight.
Sampsonofravencast (Ron Cushing) settled for second best while Just Say Mo (Kim Ireland) was third.
Live racing is proudly featured at Scarborough Downs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (EDT). The Sunday matinee gets underway at 1:30.
For more information, visit www.ScarboroughDowns.com or our Facebook page.
Mike Sweeney