Bet You isn’t finished yet with the Hight Memorial Pace.

The 2016 champion is back in the field for the fourth straight year at the annual race at the Skowhegan State Fair, and is the favorite among the five competitors to take the one-mile, two-lap event. The race offers a purse of $12,000 (up from $10,000 last year), with an additional $4,000 going to a horse and driver that break the record time of 1 minute, 51.4 seconds, set by Achilles Blue Chip back in 2014.

Could Bet You add another Hight title to the collection? You bet. The horse, driven by Kevin Switzer Jr., has three wins, seven places and two shows in 20 races this season, has the fastest time in the field at 1:50.3, and is the odds-on favorite at 5-2. Bet You also has a sizable track record at Skowhegan; after winning the race in 2016, Bet You finished third in 2017 and then led most of the race last year before fading in the last quarter-mile.

The favorite will have competition, however. The next best odds, at 7-2, go to Stormyweatherahead, which is driven by Matthew Athearn and which has won four times, had one place and totaled four shows in 15 races. At 9-2 odds is Shez Sugarsweet A, an Australian horse driven by Andrew Harrington and trained by Heidi Gibbs, who won last year’s Hight Memorial Pace with Kenrick. Shez Sugarsweet has made 26 starts this year and won nine times, with seven places and no shows.

Zack Lee, at 6-1 odds and driven by Dan Deslandes, has had the most successful season in the field, with 12 wins in 24 races, as well as five places and three shows. The fifth horse in the field is Sailor Jerry, which is managed by the family connection of driver Nicholas Graffam and his father, trainer Michael Graffam. Nicholas Graffam has driven Sailor Jerry to three wins, one place and three shows in 15 races.

After a week of sunny, warm weather, the conditions for the Hight Memorial Pace could worsen, making the record time of 1:51.4 a longer shot. Rain that is in the forecast for the morning could make the track sloppy by race time, although the rain is supposed to let up by the afternoon.

The Hight Memorial Pace is the ninth of 10 races on the docket for today. The post time is 3:24 p.m.


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