September 20, 2023 — by Chris Tully, for the Maine Sire Stakes (Judy Ellis photos)

FARMINGTON, ME – The sophomore pacing fillies enjoyed their day in the sun at the Farmington Fair, where two $14,684 divisions of Maine Sire Stakes for 3-year-old distaffs raced on Tuesday (Sept. 19).

South St Dottie handily put away her field of cohorts in a wire-to-wire effort from post four.

Driven by Aaron Hall for trainer Mike Graffam, the successful daughter of Western Maverick made every call a winning, showing her heels to the field in a 1:59.2 score, with a :28.1 final quarter thrown in for good measure.

Owned and bred by Jan Donaway, South St Dottie now has $66,285 in seasonal earnings with eight trips to the winners circle.

Katelyn Angel (Kevin Switzer-Marc Tardif) was back a length and a half to be second; Ally Mac (Walter Case Jr.-Cain MacKenzie) was third.

The Tardif Taskforce sent Pickmepickme out from the outermost post position in the second division, where she came from off the pace to wrap up another victory in 2:00.

Driven by Andy Harrington, the daughter of Western Maverick was first over heading down the backside for the final time, and pulled away from the pack to win by 2-1/2 lengths.

Owned, trained and bred by Marc Tardif, it was the thirteenth victory of Pickmepickme’s  career, pushing her lifetime earnings to $139,720.

La Mambacita (Heath Campbell-Valerie Grondin) set the fractions and settled for second; Justcallmemimi (Case Jr.-Graffam) was third.

The Maine Sire Stakes concludes at the Farmington Fair on Wednesday (Sept. 20) with two divisions of the 3-year-old male pacers.  Next week, the Maine-sired Standardbreds transition over to the Cumberland Fair with the trotters on Wed. (Sept. 27), the sophomore pacers on Friday (Sept. 29), and the $240,000 (est.) freshman finals on Saturday (Oct. 2).

For more information about the Maine Sire Stakes, follow their Facebook page @MaineBreedersAssociation, or go to their website:  https://www.mainesirestakes.com