On a gorgeous Friday night at Bangor's historic oval, SKY KEEPER and driver Kevin Switzer, Jr. trotted the fastest mile ever in the State of Maine in 1:56.4 for trainer Philip "Bo" Sowers and owner Irwin Kaplan.

The record mile was set up by Gary Mosher and VICTORY TAX, who exploded off the gate to take the lead and set fractions of :28.2, :57.4 and 1:27.1. Switzer positioned SKY KEEPER into the garden spot and was content to follow VICTORY TAX until after the 5/8ths pole, when he challenged the leader, taking the lead just after the 3/4 pole. VICTORY TAX held game around the final turn, but when they hit the stretch, SKY KEEPER commanded the track and lengthened his lead to four lengths at the finish.

SKY KEEPER's nemesis for the last few weeks, PEMBROKE PRAYER, was saddled with the seven hole. When his driver Heath Campbell saw VICTORY TAX explode off the gate, Campbell took back to seventh and could not make up the ground to catch the leaders with the fractions that were being set.

The previous state record was held by the mare IPO BLUE CHIP in 1:57.0 at Scarborough Downs set in 2012.