Cumberland, ME — Last year’s Maine frosh filly champ, Pickmepickme, picked up right where she left off winning Saturday’s (June 17) fastest of two $14,684 divisions of the Maine Sire Stakes for 3-year-old pacing fillies at Cumberland.

Pickmepickme scored under wraps in 2:01.3. Stephanie Gray photo.

With Andrew Harrington at the controls, and using the luck of the draw along with her considerable racing prowess, the 3-year-old daughter of Western Maverick took advantage of her pylon position to grab the lead at the start and continued to maintain control of the tempo into a :30 opening panel. With the fair track rated as ‘good’ the field stayed in perfect alignment with stablemate Katelyn’s Angel (Kevin Switzer Jr., 5-2) right on her helmet at the 1:01.2 half-mile marker while they passed the stands for the first time.

Sensing the readiness of the pocket-sitting Katelyn’s Angel, Harrington let out a notch on Pickmepickme and hit the third stanza in a quickening 1:31.3, while getting a little separation. As the field turned for home Switzer tipped his live filly but could not catch the leader who scored under wraps in 2:01.3.

Owned, trained and bred by Marc Tardif, with special recognition to his wife and partner Peg Tardif, Pickmepickme went off the 1-5 favorite and paid $2.60 to win. The ‘Tardif Taskforce’ exacta included second place finisher Katelyn’s Angel, who was just 1-3/4 lengths from the leader at the finish. Justcallmemimi (Bruce Ranger) was third.

In the opening Maine Sire Stakes split, the filly South St Dottie (Nick Graffam, 5-2) came from off the pace to nab the pacesetting favorite La Mambacita (Heath Campbell, 2-5) to score by a tight margin.

When the car sped away over the rain-moistened surface, Heath Campbell put his filly La Mambacita right on the front end and was well in command before the horses straightened out to move down the backside for the first time. Janie (Aaron Hall) assumed the pocket position with 23-1 longshot Alittlemorebliss (Ron Cushing) in third.

As the pacing fillies watched the pacesetter establish a two-length lead into a :30.2 opening panel, Nick Graffam tipped South St Dottie out from fourth position in a bid for situation improvement. That early move was put on pause as Graffam went back to the pylons as the field passed the half in 1:02. Going into the backstretch paddock turn the final time, Graffam finally committed to his first over move and began to swiftly advance his charge into a 1:32.1 third stanza.

Around the final turn South St Dottie looked La Mambacita right in the eye. However, as the field turned for home Graffam’s filly hesitated slightly and the battle was on. In the shadow of the wire South St Dottie found an extra spring to her step, getting up in the final strides to win by a quarter-length over La Mambacita in 2:02. Janie finished third.

Trained by Mike Graffam for owner Jan Donaway, the 3-year-old daughter of Western Maverick paid $7.60 to win.

The Maine Sire Stakes resumes at Bangor on Wednesday (June 21) where the 3-year-old pacing colts meet for week two. Next weekend at Cumberland the sophomore trotters make their debut on Friday (June 23) with the 3-year-old pacing fillies visiting Bangor on Saturday (June 24).

For more information about the Maine Standardbred Breeders Stakes, follow our Facebook page @MaineBreedersAssociation, or go to website: www.mainesirestakes.com.