Author: by Ken Terpenning, for Northville Downs

Southwind Amazon, the third winningest Standardbred of all time with 126 career tallies, headlines the featured $10,800 Open Pace this Saturday (May 20) at Northville Downs.

Driver Nick Graffam won the featured $6,500 Winners Over Pace on Friday (May 19) at Cumberland with The Bird Dance N, moving to within one win of 1,000 in his career.

Trainer Nancy Takter had some serious expectations for her 3-year-old colt Christchurch at the Meadowlands Friday night (May 19), and in the aftermath of his performance in non-winners of two, he marked himself as a big-time player for the July 15 Meadowlands Pace. Christchurch put on an awesome display of power in his first start of the year after a pair of eye-popping qualifiers, drubbing five overmatched foes in 1:49.3, the second fastest mile of 2023 put up by a 3-year-old male pacer.

Jacob Stillwell refused to relinquish the lead with Rockinwiththebest and proved the best at the end of a 1:57.1 mile to pull a 10-1 upset in the $9,000 American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) Pace on Friday (May 19) at Freehold Raceway.

Skyway Rockatop and driver David Lake used the ‘give-and-go’ maneuver successfully to win Friday’s (May 19) featured $10,800 Mares Open Pace at Northville Downs.

Racine Bell, who made a break in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final and then was second against males in the Open at Vernon Downs in her last two outings, found the winner’s circle after a 1:52.3 performance in the $36,000 Fillies & Mares Open Handicap Pace on Friday night (May 19) at MGM Yonkers Raceway.

Speed was the name of the game in Friday’s (May 19) trio of Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club events at the Big M as all three winners either led or were in the top three at the first call.

John Calabrese secured a pocket ride for odds-on favorite Shoemaker Hanover and blitzed for the lead around the final turn while holding his ground to take the $15,000 North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Spring Series Final on Thursday night (May 18) at Yonkers Raceway.

Taking advantage of torrid early fractions, Rocknroll Runa A turned a big move into a huge win in the $25,000 winners-over pacing feature at Plainridge Park on Thursday afternoon (May 18).

COSA TV will have its first live broadcast of the season this Sunday night (May 21) with coverage of the second edition of the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup, from Flamboro Downs.