by harness racing publicists across North America

Friday night’s (Aug. 26) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Scarborough Downs, Tioga Downs, Batavia Downs and Saratoga.

Twin trotting records fall at Scarborough Downs

Scarborough, ME — On what at first glance appeared a rather pedestrian Scarborough Downs program, speed quickly became the order of the day as two trotting records for 4-year-old trotters were rewritten in impressive style during the course of the Friday (Aug. 26) twilight performance.

Michael Newman photo

Tango Pirate establishes a new track standard of 1:58.1 at Scarborough Downs.

Tango Pirate, a recent Saratoga import who was up in class off a dominant win last weekend, charged hard from the gate in the opening event with Dan Deslandes calling the shots from the sulky. The duo were never seriously challenged throughout the mile, gliding to victory in a sterling 1:58.1 and eclipsing the previous 4-year-old gelding benchmark of 1:58.2 which was established by Names Muscle just five weeks prior.

Tango Pirate, the son of Crazed-Celia Bleue is owned and trained by Eddie Fournier, Jr of Auburn, Maine.

The standard for 4-year-old mares was also lowered later on the Friday card with Cherry Crown Jewel and driver Mark Athearn grinding their way to a torrid 1:57.4 score while demolishing the previous track record of 1:58.3 set almost one year ago to the day by Bryan’s Angel.

Trained by Athearn’s wife Gretchen, the daughter of RC Royalty-Nowerland Kristen is owned by William Phipps of Yarmouth, Maine.

Scarborough Downs features live harness racing with twilight cards on Friday and Saturday with post time at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The Sunday matinees get underway at 1:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.ScarboroughDowns.com or our Facebook page.

— by Michael Sweeney

Tioga Downs

So Nice ($3.50) made easy work of her five rivals in Friday evening’s (Aug. 26) $13,000 Mares Open I Pace at Tioga Downs, posting a 1:50.2 victory to follow up her successful local debut last week. The 6-year-old Ponder mare had no trouble forcing My Spring Fling (Corey Braden) into the pocket early on, finding a clear path to establish the lead as both K J’s Caroline (Jim Taggart, Jr.) and Truth and Liberty (Aaron Byron) broke in the initial stages of the one-mile race. So Nice controlled the pace through sectionals of :27 and :55.3 before using a :27 third quarter to accelerate clear up the far side. So Nice ultimately prevailed by seven lengths over Shutthefrontdoor (Scott Coulter), who rallied belatedly for runner-up honors. Heart Major (Jim Meittinis) gained mildly off the far turn to take third over the fading My Spring Fling. Amber Buter trains So Nice for the Gene Oldford Farms, LLC, Stephen Oldford, and Tyler Buter. For winning driver Mike Merton, the featured score was the first leg of a hat trick on the nine-race card. Merton would later team up with Windsong Illusion ($40.40, 1:55.3) and Futuristic Bride ($18.20, 1:57.2). As no one hit the 50-cent Pick-5, a carryover of $479.48 will head to Saturday evening’s (Aug. 27) card. The first of nine races is slated for 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Batavia Downs

After back-to-back second place finishes to Serendipitious and Studio City in Open company races the last two weeks, Winky’s Pride got her revenge by beating them both, along with five other top-flight trotters in the $10,500 featured trot at Batavia Downs on Friday night (Aug. 26). As the starting car sped away, Serendipitious (Ray Fisher Jr.), WInky’s Pride (Drew Monti) and Kahoku (Ron Beback Jr.) all left as fast as the gate and then argued strongly for the lead. As they moved by the quarter in :28, Serendipitious took the front from the first seated Winky’s Pride and the two mares left Kahoku parked-out to dry. The field stayed pretty much unchanged to the half in :57.2 and three-quarters in 1:27.3 before Kahoku folded from taking air and Serendipitious started to look like a winner. But Monti had other ideas as he tipped Winky’s Pride by the head of the stretch and under light urging, trotted away to a two-length victory in 1:57.2. Studio City (Dave McNeight III) snuck up the rail to be second and Serendipitious hung on for third. It was the fourth win in 26 starts this year for Winky’s Pride ($19.60) and the winner’s share pushed her earnings up to $41,039 for 2016. The time of 1:57.2 was a new seasonal mark for the 8-year-old chestnut daughter of Amigo Hall and only two-fifths of a second off her lifetime best. Winky’s Pride is owned and trained by Robert Hummel. Dave McNeight III and Ray Fisher Jr. both had driving doubles and trainer Lisa Mariacher conditioned two winners as well. Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (Aug. 27) with post time set for 6:15 p.m. EDT.

Saratoga

Palmers Pride (Monsieur Kan Due) took a while to get going in his career but the 5-year-old trotter is enjoying a breakout season in his first year of racing at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Don Sherman trainee, who made his lifetime debut at the Spa earlier this year, scored his eighth win of the season in Friday’s (Aug. 26) feature. A consistent leaver, Palmers Pride once again flashed his early speed in Friday’s $10,000 feature for trotters and made a relatively easy lead. Driver Mark Beckwith gave him a second quarter breather as they braced for the challenge of the big favorite Up The Alley (Billy Dobson). When that one made a break, Palmers Pride drew away from the remainder of his challengers and opened up a commanding lead turning for home before stopping the timer in 1:55.4. For Palmers Pride, it was the eighth win in 18 career starts and the consistent trotter has now hit the board in 14 of his lifetime tries. Sweet Thing (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) finished second while Seeking Steven (Wally Hennessey) earned the show spot. Palmers Pride returned $13.40 in his most recent win and started an exacta and triple that paid $41.20 and $112.50, respectively.Live racing continues on Saturday night (Aug. 27) at Saratoga with a 7:05 p.m. first post.