Rain Train wins Hight Pace with track record

By GARY HAWKINS
Staff Writer

Staff photo by Jeff Pouland

A FUN RIDE: Robert Sumner drives Rain Train to the winner's circle after winning the Walter H. Hight Memorial Pace at the Skowhegan State Fair on Saturday.

SKOWHEGAN -- The Walter H. Hight Memorial Pace didn't go exactly as Robert Sumner planned, but in the end, the very end, it worked out perfectly.

Sumner and Rain Train caught O'Rourke Three and driver Jason Bartlett down the stretch to win the prestigious race by half a length in the track record time of 1 minute, 54.4 seconds. The winning purse of $8,000 was sweetened by $4,000 for beating the old track record of 1:55, but Sumner, who is a half owner of the horse, wasn't in it solely for the money.

"It's the prestige and I've been here doing it 15 years now, probably longer," said Sumner, who left Maine racing for bigger tracks and purses nine years ago.

Rain Train, a 4-year-old bay gelding owned jointly by Sumner and Gary Paganelli of Suffield, Conn., went off at 4-5 odds and paid $3.60, $2.20, $2.20 across the board. He caught O'Rourke Three in the last couple of hundred feet for the win.

Former winner Ashlee's Big Guy, driven by Donnie Richards, finished third. Work Out, driven by Heath Campbell, and Rich Camelot, with Joey Mosher in the bike, rounded out the five-horse field.

Sumner estimates he's won six or seven Hight Paces, but few were tougher than this one.

"The beginning surprised me more than anything, because I didn't think anyone would take the lead against Donnie," he said. "Jason took a good shot and that almost won him the race."

Bartlett, a Windsor native and one of the top drivers in New England, was bidding for his fifth win of the day at Skowhegan. In fact, the 26-year-old Erskine Academy graduate had won the previous 10th race.

"My horse is an open pacer in New York," said Sumner, a Bangor native who currently lives in Windsor, Conn. "He's just a grinder. That's why I pulled on the back side.

"We had to work for it. I had to call on him all he could go. I had nothing left."

The track record, set by Billy Lesgo in 1999, appeared in doubt because of heavy rain that fell Friday night. The wet track was somewhat dried by the wind, but that also conspired to raise times during the day.

"I thought after the second race -- I was in it -- and they went (1:56). I thought we had a good shot then to break the track record," Sumner said. "Then when the wind came up that was a big factor. I thought it might cause us not being able to do it."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com Article appears in the August 19, 2007 - Sunday Morning Sentinel