June 20, 2025, by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland
(Joe Shaw photo)
CUMBERLAND, ME – Late closing series purses adding up to $66,000 highlight this weekend’s harness racing at Maine’s Cumberland Raceway, with the action starting Friday afternoon (June 20) with ten races and continuing through Saturday (June 21) with a full card of lofty purses.
Friday’s $5,000 featured trot pits the outside-assigned Empereurthebest FR (3-1, Walter Case Jr.) against two inside contenders in Rose Run Xander (5-2, Benson Merrill) and Maplewood Slugger (3-1, John Nason).
Jim Dunn’s Empereurthebest FR won his last two starts in Maine and retains the services of ‘Casey,’ who drove Rose Run Xander to victory last week for trainer Benson Merrill. The French-bred 11-year-old veteran has four wins in eight seasonal starts with $347,354 earned lifetime.
In the ‘best bet’ category one would have to look very hard to find fault in Vel Miss Taylor (9-5, McGwire Sowers) who enters Friday’s $4,800 fillies and mares pace boasting a five race win streak. The 5-year-old black daughter of Ponder has 10 wins in 14 seasonal outings and has been freshened up with a 3-week layoff. Her only outwardly noticeable concern is post seven.
The second choice is Twin B High Tech (5-2, Aaron Hall), who is moving up in class but sports an impressive seven times first or second in nine starts this year. The 5-year-old daughter of Lazarus N has the advantage of post two.
Racing continues on Saturday (June 21) with 10 races, including a full card of multiple legs of the various late closing series.
The winner of the $12,500 Rockland series final, Dinner Party (2-1, Drew Campbell) will look to celebrate once again in his $7,500 leg of the Portland Pacing Series. The 6-year-old son of American Ideal boasts five wins and $23,665 in earnings this year.
Heavensway A (5-2, Kevin Switzer Jr.) leads the pack in the other $7,500 division of the Portland. Fresh off of two wins, the 8-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven has to contend with post eight.
The action kicks off at 3:15 pm on both Friday and Saturday, with a Trifecta in all 10 races, and the program also features a plethora of exotic wagers. Cumberland’s Pick 5 begins with the third race, and continues with our Pick 4 and Pick 3 toward the tail end of the program, and concludes with our High-Five Pentafecta in the final race—all with low 16% takeouts.
Live video and replays can be found on our website: firsttrackscumberland.com on the Live Racing / Video Replays tab.
First Track’s Cumberland Spring/Summer meet will continue throughout the Spring and early Summer months with regular racing on Friday and Saturday each weekend. First post is slated for 3:15 pm (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through August 2.
