The richest day of the Maine harness racing season is even richer this year.

Scarborough Downs hosts the 34th annual Maine Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association Stakes Finals races with just more than $213,000 in total purse money at stake.

The four, 2-year-old pace and trot finals together account for $188,161.

The most tightly contested race could be the $47,143 filly pace final with favorite (5-2 pre-race choice) Precious Fiona out of Gorham facing Pembrooke Lu, owned by Bill Varney of Bangor, in a $47,143 rubber match.

The two have faced each other just twice this season, with Pembrooke Lu winning the first race Aug. 13 in Skowhegan and Precious Fiona taking the rematch exactly two weeks later in Scarborough. Heath Campbell of Corinna will be driving Pembrooke Lu and Precious Fiona will be driven by Steven Mahar, a Canadian from New Brunswick.

Mahar is the only non-Maine resident or native driving any of the horses in the finals.

“It’s kind of interesting because when I was at Saratoga Raceway [New York] after casino money started coming into the racing industry there, you saw a gradual increase in out-of-state drivers and owners, but here we haven’t seen that yet,” said Mike Sweeney, Scarborough Downs publicity director. “This weekend, 75 percent of the horses are Maine-owned and I’d say almost 100 percent are being driven by Maine residents or Maine natives.”

Other finals favorites include Speedy Cranberry, driven by Shawn Gray of Gardiner in the $46,976 filly trot division; Up Tempo, a 5-2 choice out of Gorham; and two entries owned by Michael Graffam of Falmouth in the $47,060 colt pace division: Maineiac Trot and Terrys Star Dragon. Combined, Graffam’s duo has won 11 of 14 starts this season.

Post time for Sunday’s racing action is 12:05 p.m.

Bidding up the interest

The annual Maine MSBOA/Pine Tree Sales yearling sale drew a larger crowd, more bidders, and larger bids for a second straight year.

Wednesday’s auction of 61 horses at the Cumberland Fairgrounds main racing paddock resulted in 54 winning bids totaling $135,400.

The top bid was $17,000 for Two For Two, a brown filly yearling trotter out of Ram Racing Stables of Portland. Two other horses fetched bids of $10,500 and $10,000.

“Last year, I think the best bid was $12,500. That’s a very good sign for the industry,” said Carlton Chamberlin, auction-sales manager. “The purse money and money in the stakes program has increased and that’s increasing interest in yearlings. We’re quite pleased.”

Chamberlin estimated a crowd of least 300 at the pre-auction barbecue and another 200 at the auction. Last year’s crowd was estimated at 350 people and all 77 horses that were up for auction were sold.

Cornish saddling restoration cost

The Cornish trotting park’s ongoing restoration should get a big boost from the ninth annual Cornish Horsemen’s Day event on Saturday.

The feature event is an eight-race program involving seven harness races and one under-saddle race. All eight will be amateur, mile-long races.

“As far as I know, it’s the only under-saddle race in the state,” said Diann Perkins, president of the MSBOA.

The event, which starts at noon and continues until about 3 p.m., benefits the continued restoration of the Cornish trotting park, formerly one of the state’s premier tracks.

“We’ve raised over $30,000 so far,” Perkins said.

Perkins said the town of Cornish bought the track almost a decade ago. The grandstand, originally built in 1905, and the judges’ stand (1898) have both been completely restored. Next up is the barn and a resurfacing of the track.

“It hasn’t seen competitive racing since 1951, but maybe down the road we can have a few parimutuel races,” said Perkins. “It’s only five-wide so it’s a fairly narrow track.”

The track features an underground pedestrian walkway, which was built in 1926, that goes from one side of the track to the other.

Admission is $3 per person. Other event highlights include tours of the Cornish Trotting Park Museum and a demonstration by the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of Maine, which will also marshal each of the races.

MSBOA STAKES FINALS

WHERE: at Scarborough Downs

WHEN: Sunday, 12:05 p.m. post time

WHAT: 2-year-old stakes division championships

FEATURED RACES: fifth race: $46,976 filly trot; eighth race: $46,982 colt trot; ninth race: $47,143 filly pace; eleventh race: $47,060 colt pace

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net