Burroughs poised to defend Shrine Trot title at Bass Park

Sunday is Shrine Trot day at Bangor Raceway. Units from Anah Temple Shrine of Bangor will kick off the busy 10-race schedule with a Shrine parade, beginning at 1 p.m. More than 25 Shrine units will parade around the historic Bass Park half-mile oval in the only full Anah Shrine parade in eastern Maine in 1999.

There will be mini-bikes, go-karts, miniature race cars and 4×4 units to thrill race fans as they spin, speed, maneuver and criss-cross the Bangor race track. Meanwhile, bagpipers, brass bands, clowns and several marching units parade the half-mile distance at a much slower pace. Anah’s Potentate Edgar `Bud’ Prouty Jr. of Dover-Foxcroft, will step off the parade promptly at 1 p.m. Later in the afternoon, Potentate Prouty will present the winner of the Annual Shrine Trot a trophy and blanket in the winner’s circle.

“Over the years, Anah Temple Shriners have entertained millions of people all across Maine and Canada. The Shriners are the kind of family entertainment Bangor Raceway is proud to present to the public,” Fred Nichols, raceway manager, said.

Last year, in the Shrine Trot, Malvern Burroughs drove Warren Moon, a 5-year-old son of SuperBowl, to a 2:05 wire-to-wire victory over a very heavy racetrack. Burroughs, won the 1997 Hambletonian at The Meadowlands with Malabar Man in 1:55 and he will return to Bangor Raceway on Sunday to defend his championship status. Can he make it back-to-back victories in Sunday’s ninth race $4,000 Shrine Trot Invitational?

In addition to the Shrine parade and trot race, Bangor Raceway will again host two divisions of the Billings Classic Amateur Driving Championship Series XVIII (fourth and sixth races). The CKG Billings is named for Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, one of the greatest sportsmen in the true sense of the word and an “amateur” driver.

The Delvin Miller Amateur Drivers Association of Goshen, N.Y., sponsor of the Billings Classic, currently has a roster of 91 drivers who qualify for “amateur” status, including Burroughs. Ten drivers with amateur status are scheduled to compete at Bangor Raceway on Sunday in The Billings Trotting Classic. The amateur driving series began at Monticello Raceway in mid-May and ends at Pompano Park in late October with 32 stops at racetracks in 11 states and Canada.

The Billings is open to drivers who qualify as an “amateur.” To meet the qualifications, he or she must be a member of the Delvin Miller ADA and be licensed by the USTA (or CTA) and local state racing commissions. All proceeds from The Billings are donated to the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, N.Y. Last year, amateur drivers turned over more than $20,000 to the museum.

The amateur drivers are all successful businessmen in their own right and their collective goal is to promote the Standardbred sport and have fun driving. Other drivers joing Burroughs at Bangor are: Peter Gerry, an investment banker from New Jersey and Billings president, Ebby Gerry Jr., a banker and president of the newly remodeled Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, N.Y., Bud Hatfield, who owned seven car dealerships in Ohio and Kentucky and was the Billings champ in 1998 and Joe Faraldo, a New York attorney and 1997 Billings champ who represented the U.S. at the world amateur driving competition in Montreal last year.

Also, Michael Weber, a newspaper columnist and horse trainer from New Jersey, Greg Keidel, the current race secretary in Northfield Park, Ill., Al Swartz, runner-up in the Billings three of the past five years and who also represented the US in Sweden for the world amateur title two years ago, Rob Krivelin, who owns horses with Jim Doherty in New Jersey and was runner up to Bud Hatfield’s 1998 championship and Dave Cochran of Old Orchard, a seminar speaker for telephone companies and vice president of The Billings Classic, who brought the trotting event to Bangor.

Last Sunday, three divisions of the Maine Standardbred Breeders Stakes for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings were contested at Bangor. In the first division, for a $5,295 purse, it was all KV’s Dragon and Dave Ingraham, coming from fifth and grabbing the top at the quarter-mile pole and winning by one and one-quarter lengths in 2:02 ahead of I’m Andy and Heath Campbell.

In the second division, for a $5,490 purse, Tomfoolery and Kim Ireland also came from the fifth position and gained the front end past the quarter-pole, winning by three lengths in 2:00.3. In the third $5,490 division, Lakeness and Donny Richards broke stride at the beginning of the race and faded to eighth. But the pair recovered, got back on gait and by the half-mile marker were three wide in fourth. Heading down the stretch, Richards overtook leader Boyd’s Bobcat and Freeman Parker and won by a quarter length in 2:04.3.

Saturday’s 11-race card features three divisions of the MSBS 3-year-old pacing fillies.

PACING BITS: In last Sunday’s 10th race feature pace, Shawn Gray and Yo Ho Ho stumbled and fell at the start of the race. Gray said this week that his horse sees everything on the track. He believes his horse jumped when he saw what looked like a parimutuel ticket on the track in front of him, got hung up in his hopples, and fell. Gray suffered a broken right elbow and will be out of action for a month and his horse had a bad skinned knee but seems to be all right.