by Susan Higgins, for Scarborough Downs

Scarborough, ME — Three-time State of Maine Trotter of the Year Kerogen gave his all on Easter Sunday (April 4) at Scarborough Downs, but his all was not enough to overcome the powerful emergence of a brand-new force.

Derek Davis photo

Tsarina trotted to a 2:00.4 victory on Sunday at Scarborough Downs.

Tsarina, a 6-year-old mare owned by George Resta and trained and driven by Ron Cushing, was a 2:00.4 winner in the $8,000 winners over trotting feature. The Andover Hall-Southwind Redbud miss spent the majority of her 2009 season racing in New York. She had split her time earlier this season between Saratoga, Yonkers and the Meadowlands.

Cushing, who had been campaigning on the New York and Pennsylvania harness racing circuits the last few seasons, made a triumphant return to Maine this weekend with two wins on Sunday’s program.

Cushing made the return to his native Maine based partly on the increases in purse money the state is now seeing. He joins the rest of the Cushing harness racing contingent — father Rick, brother Mike and sister-in-law Charlene.

Rob Dinning also held the hot hand at Scarborough Downs on Sunday with three wins on the day’s card. That gave him five on the weekend for owner Kevin Gee and top-rated trainer Randy Bickmore. Bickmore, the two-time defending Trainer of the Year at Scarborough Downs, is off to a hot start once again this season, topping the leaderboard after the first weekend of action.