By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs
(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — One week removed from beating the best female pacers on the grounds, Won Surreal Deal doubled down and did it again by winning her second straight $15,000 Open I Distaff Handicap pacing feature at Batavia Downs on Wednesday night (Oct. 18).
After coming from off the pace last week, Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings) did a 180 and went right to the front and led the single file field thorugh quarters of :28.1, :56.4 and 1:25 without any challenge from behind. As they went into the last turn, the pocket-sitting Miley Rose (Dave McNeight III) was the only one with a shot but as they turned for home, Won Surreal Deal just paced away from her and won handily by 1-¾ lengths in a swift 1:54.1.
It was the fifteenth lifetime win for Won Surreal Deal ($7.30) who is owned by the Parsimonious Racing Stable and trained by Jeff Sorenson.
In the $11,500 mid-level conditioned pacing night cap, Escape The House (Jim McNeight Jr.) followed P L Notorious (Kevin Cummings) from the start of the race until the top of the stretch, where McNeight tipped Escape The House into the passing lane and out-brushed So Amazing (John Cummings Jr.) and It’s Mesmerize N (Kyle Swift) to win by a neck in 1:56, scoring a major upset at 22-1.
It was the third win in the last four starts for Escape The House ($46.00) who is owned and trained by Taylor Fritz.
Escape The House also spearheaded the winning Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta combination of 9-8-6-1-2 that paid $8,677.50 for a 20-cent wager.
Kevin Cummings led all drivers Wednesday with four wins while trainer Sam Smith topped his conditioning cohorts with a triple during the night.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Oct. 18) at 6:00 p.m. Free full past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at the Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab and all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free at the Batavia Downs Live Facebook page.