Bangor track to host match race tonight Pacers contest to feature mare vs. gelding

If you can’t beat ’em, make ’em run their own race.

That’s the general idea behind the first-ever match race to be held at Bangor Raceway tonight.

If the historic significance isn’t enough to get fans to canter over to Bangor Historic Track, this might be: It’s not Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, but it is the equestrian version of a battle of the sexes.

“This is the first match race, let alone the first one between a male and female horse, at Bangor,” said Bangor Raceway general manager Fred Nichols. “The last one I know of on the East Coast, or anywhere, was a Thoroughbred race at The Belmont in 1975.”

The competitors are 5-year-old mare Yankee Anthem, who has won four out of her last five races and finished first or second in six of seven races, and 7-year-old gelding The Boy N, who has won five of seven races and finished second in the other two.

The seeds for this race were actually sown 10 years ago.

“A number of years ago, we had a similar situation with mare Westridge Gossip and a male named Corky’s Boy,” Nichols explained. “They were the two dominant trotters at the time, so nobody really wanted to race against them because nobody really had a chance.

“I had the idea to have a match race, but at the time, the conditions allowed by the [Maine State Harness Racing] Commission didn’t allow for such a race, so I couldn’t do it.”

Nichols put in a request with the MSHRC which was eventually approved as a rules change to make it possible for Maine tracks to hold match races, but it took awhile to do so by the time it was done it was too late for them and the situation never really presented itself again until now.

This time around, it’s pacers taking center stage.

Yankee Anthem, owned by Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native Bernard Charlton and driven by Stephen Mahar, will go head-to-head with even-money favorite The Boy N, owned by Gaetan Cloutier and Mary Jane Parker of Leeds and driven by Shawn Gray.

Yankee Anthem turned in her fastest mile (1 minute, 56.1 seconds) last month at Bangor. The Boy N owns the fastest mile mark of the season at Bangor with a 1:55.4. The two horses met once before and turned in their fastest times in a regular race June 2 won by The Boy N.

Bangor’s seventh race will match up just these two horses and the only betting taken will be win betting. Yankee Anthem’s odds were 8-to-5 at press time with The Boy N being 1-1.

Nichols expects interest in the race to be fairly high, but doesn’t expect the betting to follow suit.

“Not really, because it’s just win betting, but it will hold its own that way [win betting],” Nichols said.

To commemorate the occasion, Nichols has had two different buttons made up.

“I have some ready,” he said. “I’ve got pink ones saying “I’m for her” and blue ones saying “I’m for him.”

Could this be a recurring thing?

“I have no idea if we’ll do it again. It’s a novelty, but it should create interest,” Nichols said. “They’re the best two horses racing at Bangor by far. The people in their classes are just relieved they don’t have to race against them.”