Driver Dan Deslandes and his father, trainer Jeff Deslandes, took Cumberland by storm and won four of the nine races on Friday’s (April 14) opening day program at the iconic Southern Maine oval.
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In yesterday’s opener at Cumberland, Sarahs Lilly had a repeat performance, taking the top fillies & mares class on back-to-back Tuesdays. That, in and of itself, is not necessarily headline news. But the fact the her regular driver Bruce Ranger is now leading all drivers at all three commercial New England harness tracks, could be somewhat of a unique occurrence.
“This has never happened before, even in the old Bay State Raceway era,” said long-time Maine presiding judge Charles Malia. “I do recall Ranger being the top reinsman at Plainridge, Rockingham and Pompano in the year 2000, but never at all three New England tracks simultaneously.”
Maine icon Bruce Ranger set a track record of 1:56 with Sarahs Lilly to cap a driving three-peat under sunny skies on Cumberland’s first Tuesday (May 11) card.
The $6,000 Fillies and Mares Winners Over saw the five-year-old mare by Hes Gorgeous pace to a wire-to-wire romp to set a new standard for older pacing mares. The wire-to-wire victory also gave the mare’s trainer Ben Merrill three trips to the winner’s circle, where Ben and his wife Lauren also celebrated their wedding anniversary.
Sarahs Lilly was bred by Irwin Kaplan, Merrick, NY and is owned by Moo Coo Inc. (Ellen & Irwin Kaplan) of Merrick, N.Y. She paid $5.20 to win.