The Maine Sire Stakes program made a brief reappearance at the harness racing meeting at Scarborough Downs on Saturday (8-15), taking a respite following a short Bangor swing and a breather before heading out for a weeklong appearance at the Skowhegan Fair.
In the first of two splits for three-year-old pacing colts, Pembroke Maverick regained his good steady stride, effortlessly gliding to his 4th stakes victory of the season after sporting inconsistencies of gait in both his most recent appearances along the fairground circuit.
Driver Heath Campbell utilized a powerful burst of speed to quickly grab command at the midway point, only to then throttle his charge back down toward a leisurely clocking of 1:56.2 en route to claiming the lions' share of the $11,391 purse.
The son of Western Maverick-Migraine is owned by William Varney of Bangor, Maine and trained by noted stakes conditioner Valerie Grondin.
Sailor Jerry (Michael Graffam), who cut respectable early fractions before giving way to the eventual winner, finished a strong runner-up while HarttAttack (Gary Mosher) claimed the show dough.
The consortium of Campbell, Grondin and Varney doubled their pleasure in the $11,567 second division as Pembroke Wildcat took full advantage of an early bobble by the well-backed HardcoreJohnyPawn to vault to an almost uncontested lead despite scoring from the outside wing.
The path to victory was not as effortless as the one previously charted by his stable-mate though, as the son of Western Maverick-Saluki Hanover was forced to withstand a competent late charge from Reckless Rebel, before crossing the wire by a scant margin, on top in 1:58.
Reckless Rebel (Kevin Switzer, Jr) settled for the hard fought bridesmaid share while Paris Beau (Gary Mosher) rallied smartly for third.
Live racing is proudly featured at Scarborough Downs on 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.
Michael Sweeney