Irwin Kaplan News Today

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. �...

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....