March 20, 2026, by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland
CUMBERLAND, ME – This year’s first live pari-mutuel harness racing in the state of Maine kicks off this weekend at Cumberland Raceway, just north of Portland. The iconic Cumberland fairgrounds has hosted Standardbred sport for over 150 years, and this year marks the sixth consecutive season that ‘First Tracks’ has held 50-plus day racing meets in the Pine Tree State.
The action kicks off at 12:15 pm on Saturday (March 21) with a 12-race card, featuring a $7,000 ‘Winners Over’ trot slated as race seven. Leading the group of the Downeast’s top trotters is Brutalizer who was freshened up with a qualifying mile last week and appears ready to take on the region’s dominant, diagonally-gaited equines.
Driven by Andy Harrington for trainer/partner Sara Harrington, the 5-year-old son of Alarm Detector won his last two outings at Cumberland in December, before retiring for the year with a whopping $73,319 in seasonal earnings. Sporting eight wins and eight seconds last year, he scores from post five and is listed at 2-1 on the early morning line.
Of course it’s always nice to go out with a win, but his chief competitor, Big Al M, also had two wins and a second at the tail end of last season. He scores outside from post six and gets the services of 2025’s top teamster Kevin Switzer Jr. and is the 8-5 early pick.
The exotic wagering menu has been enhanced to get things going early with the 50-cent Pick-5 added to the opener. The Pick-4 starts with the last four races on the program (races 9-12) and Pick-3 begins in the tenth race. All boast a low 16% takeout. In addition, the 20-cent Superfecta is available in races four, six and eight, along with a Pentafecta in races five and the finale.
Racing continues on Sunday (March 22) with another 12-race card of full fields. The featured $6,200 conditioned pace includes the area’s swiftest sidesteppers in race eight. All of the action during both days of live harness racing can be viewed in its entirety on our website (Live Racing) or directly through the Racetrack Television Network.
First Tracks Cumberland’s Spring/Summer meet will continue throughout the Spring season with regular racing on Saturday and Sunday each weekend through the month of April. During the month of May the track transitions to a Friday-Saturday schedule for those five weeks, after which the calendar reverts back to Saturday-Sunday for the month of June.
First post is slated for 12:15 pm (EDT) during the extended pari-mutuel meeting, which runs through August 2.
A complete calendar and additional information can be viewed by visiting our website:
