By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs
(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — Although very inclement weather greeted the Labor Day crowd on Monday (Sept. 5), Franks Watching seemed to revel in the rain after cruising in the $15,000 Open I Handicap trotting feature at Batavia Downs.
Ray Fisher Jr. left with Franks Watching and crossed over for the lead in the first turn as the heavy post time favorite Keystone Apache (Jim Morrill Jr.) made a break at the eighth pole. From there Franks Watching set soft fractions of :29.4, 1:00.1 and 1:30 before heading into the last turn. Jumpininthejailhouse (Kevin Cummings) and Credit List (Dave McNeight III) had been tracking the leader to that point but were unable to gain momentum. That trend continued as they headed for home as Franks Watching finished under wraps and on top by 1-½ lengths in 1:59.
Let go at 12-1 despite winning last week, Franks Watching returned a healthy $27.40 to those who backed him. Mary Warriner owns the Ryan Swift trained trotter.
Fisher and Swift also teamed up to win with Lougazi (1:58.3, $2.70) giving them a tandem double.
Later in the $14,000 Open II Handicap trot, Batting Stats (Jim Morrill Jr.) tripped out behind the front running Big Box Hanover (Larry Stalbaum) all the way to the stretch where he found the passing lane, ran down the leader and won by a neck in 1:58.4. Another price play, the Mike Ohol owned and trained Batting Stats paid $24.00 to win.
Dave McNeight III and Kevin Cummings both had driving hat tricks on Monday. Two of Cummings’ winners were trained by Sammy Smith, tying him with Ryan Swift for top conditioning honors for the afternoon.
There was a big payout after the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta was hit in the 11th race to close out the card. The combination of 1-4-2-8-9 returned $3,089 for a 20-cent wager.
The annual Labor Day driver’s bicycle race was also held on Monday despite the poor weather conditions. This year’s edition went to Denny Bucceri who left hard off the gate, grabbed the lead and found good traction in the middle of the track to win by five lengths. Eight lucky attending fans took home the bikes used in the race via a random drawing after the race that was sponsored by The Squirrel’s Nest in Batavia, New York.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Sept. 7) with post time at 6 p.m. Free full past performance race programs for all live race days can be downloaded by visiting the track’s website at bataviadownsgaming.com