By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs
(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — Dave McNeight III, aka “Triple Sticks”, doubled his nickname on Tuesday (Aug. 13) night after he struck six wins on his opponents at Batavia Downs. McNeight won with Italia Seelster (1:57.2, $4.00), Arco N (1:56.3, $3.50), Molly Kool (1:56.2, $12.40), Arnold (2:00.2, $17.20), Alexander Hanover (2:01, $10.20) and Bettor B Sawyer (1:57.3, $10.20). And from the 12 races he drove in, McNeight also finished second three times and third once, giving himself a stellar .667 UDR for the evening.
McNeight started the night in sixth place for wins among all drivers at the Downs for the current meet and jumped past Joe Chindano Jr. (9) and Drew Monti (10) into fourth with his current count (12) and now sits right behind Jim McNeight Jr. (13). The top two drivers are Jim Morrill Jr. (19) and Kevin Cummings (14).
The one race McNeight didn’t win was the $13,500 Open Handicap pace for fillies and mares that went to Tioga Downs based Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings) who made her second start at Batavia Downs a winning one as she wreaked havoc on her opponents.
Won Surreal Deal took the lead off the gate before momentarily yielding to Summer Lovin (Kevin Cummings) at the :28 quarter. But as soon as that one cleared, Won Surreal Deal was out again and charged back to the front, where she would remain for the rest of the mile. Won Surreal Deal kept the pace honest to the half in :56.4 but then turned on the heat up the backstretch, where she pulled away to a three length lead as she passed three-quarters in 1:25 flat. Around the last turn, Won Surreal Deal kept tightening the screws and entered the lane on top by 4-½ lengths. As she made her way down the stretch, Won Surreal Deal swelled up and torched the field by seven wrapped-up lengths and tripped the light in 1:53.4.
It was the third win of the year for Won Surreal Deal ($5.50) who is owned by Parsimonious Stable and trained by Jeff Sorenson.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (Aug. 13) at 6 p.m.
Free full card 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.