Scarborough, Maine -
Driver Kevin Switzer celebrated his 51st
birthday on Saturday (April 26) by reining two
winners on the Scarborough Downs program – in fact
book-ending the ten-race card by claiming victory in
both the opener and finale.
Allraes Valentine got the birthday bash off to a
rousing start as Switzer employed a rallying
strategy to post top honors in the first, en route
to recording a seasonal best 1:58.2 clocking for the
Jamie Gerard trained entry. He closed out the
Saturday soiree with a front-running effort, through
the golden twilight at the Downs, to parade Eva
Flanders’ Chavez into the Scarborough winner’s
circle.
“I’m not getting older” said a defiant Kevin
Switzer. “I’m still getting better. Age is just a
state of mind and my mind is still focused on the
business at hand – winning harness races.”
Switzer has certainly gathered his share of driving
victories winning 2320 contests over the course of a
career that began in 1984 – he currently resides in
third place on the Scarborough Downs seasonal
leader’s board.
“We’re just getting started” said Switzer. “We’ve
got 27 in training at our barn in Cumberland -- my
son and one other man help me out with the training.
We’ve still got one racing in Delaware that I need
to go pick up soon and the two and three-year-olds
are progressing down nicely. We’re hopeful for
another successful year.”
Switzer’s greatest success came as a trainer last
season with his far-reaching outfit earning
recognition as the 2007 Trainer of the Year at
Scarborough Downs. The stable continued along the
winning path on Saturday with son Kevin Jr. working
out the winning journey in the back-up class with
stable-star LLYR .
“We had a good day with our own stock today”
continued Switzer, “My son drives LLYR and does a
very good job. He’s more than capable out on the
track so I let him drive a few now and then. He’s
got to understand though that I’m not ready to hang
up the lines just right yet – I’ve still got that
fire in me – but once the northern Maine circuit
opens up and the drivers start to disperse, he’ll
pick up more drives.”
LLYR posted his second win of the season on Saturday
and will be headed back toward Open-level
competition soon.
“We raced him in Delaware during the winter” said
Switzer “Against some tough competition too. We
changed a few things on him and he’s responded
pretty well. He got caught up in traffic last week
-- every time the kid moved him someone else was
already there (sort of like what happened to Shady
Sabrina and me today) – but everything worked out
fine for LLYR and Kevie today and we got the job
done.”
Shady Sabrina is the undoubtedly the top mare in the
Switzer barn and the reining Distaff Pacer of the
Year at Scarborough Downs. Today she was entered to
race against the Open-level boys by virtue of her
demolition of the top Filly and Mares class last
week.
“I ended up with the seven-hole against a tough
field of pacers today” remarked Switzer. “There were
just too many to get by so I was forced out way wide
around that last turn. By the time I got into the
stretch we were motoring but it was just too late to
get up. Who knows what happens if I had drawn the
inside today?”
Undaunted by age and still driven toward success,
Kevin Switzer is once again a force to be reckoned
with on the state of Maine harness scene -- The
birthday boy continues to boogie.
Scarborough Downs proudly features live harness
action every Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon
with first post slated for 4:15 pm (EDT) with the
exception of Saturday May 3 (Kentucky Derby Day)
when the live program will begin at 2:00 pm. The
popular Sunday matinee performance rolls in behind
the gate at 1:30 pm.
