Track records and an amateur driver’s first lifetime win highlighted this weekend’s racing at Farmington and Cumberland Fairs.

It wasn’t a question whether the trotting track record at Farmington Fair was going to be broke during the card’s fifth race. It was who would break it. Four of the five entries had already been victorious in sub 1:59.0 miles this season in Maine. The 2:00.2 mark set by Star’s Photo in 2003 was within all of their reach.

As the gate’s wings folded, Seaside took advantage of the rail position to secure the lead. With Mark Athearn driving, the four year old mare set fractions of 30.1, 58.2, and 1:28.0 without any challenges from the field. At the head of the stretch, Pembroke Spice (Heath Campbell), who sat in the garden spot the whole mile, came at the leader and looked formidable until Seaside found another gear and lengthened her lead to the finish in 1:58.2. Seaside is trained by Donald Richards and owned by Thomas Dillon.

The first race on the day’s card gave amateur driver David Henderson, Jr. his first lifetime driving victory. A member of the police force in Dover-Foxcroft , and son of Maine trainer Dave Henderson, Sr., Junior put Lucky Rider in the lead as favorite Southview Sabre struggled pacing in the first turn. He was never challenged from that point forward getting the victory in a leisurely 2:04.3 for owner Larry Reece.

The feature race for the parallel gaited horses saw a skillful drive from Charlene Cushing. Driving Dream Well, she forced pole sitter All Pro Hall (Ron Cushing) to cut a furious first quarter, opening up the garden spot. From there, Dream Well had his nose on Cushing’s helmet as he cut fractions of: 28.2, :56.3 and 1:26.1. At the seven-eighth, Dream Well pulled the pocket and overtook the leader while heading off a late challenge from Joe’s The Best (Shawn Gray) to claim victory in 1:57.0. Dream Well is owned by Heidi Jordan and is trained out of the Cushing barn.

Sunday’s racing at Cumberland Fair saw the three year old colt division of the Maine Sire Stakes. The division has had two colts claim most of the victories this year, but things may be changing.

Showing improvement in each of his recent starts, Hooper made a statement today as he cruised down the long Cumberland stretch to be victorious over division powerhouse Katahdin Boy (Gray) in 1:58.4. Jason Bartlett, who steered the colt to victory two starts ago in 1:56.3 at Scarborough, drove for owner and trainer James Smallwood. Bartlett is planning to be back in Maine to drive Hooper in the Stakes Final at Scarborough on October 17th.

Not to be outdone, Pembroke Nick (Campbell) took the other division in 1:58.3 over an improving Switz N Swag(Kevin Switzer). The mile tied the Cumberland track record for three year old colts, set in 2004 by Reserved(Bartlett).

The day also saw a new track record for four year old trotting mares as Campbell struck again with Pembroke Heat Wave in 2:00.2. The mare is owned by Bill Varney and trained by Val Grondin.

Racing continues every day this week at Cumberland Fair with night racing Monday and Friday, post time 7:00 pm; and matinee racing the rest of the week, post time 3:00pm and Saturday’s post is at 1:30 pm.