By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs
(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — The Last Martini served up the first career loss to Cowgirl Hanover after she went gate to wire in the lone $102,500 division of the New York Sire Stakes for 2-year-old pacing fillies on Wednesday (Aug. 14) evening at Batavia Downs.
Sent off as the prohibitive 1-9 betting favorite, Cowgirl Hanover (Doug McNair) got away third as stablemate The Last Martini (Jason Bartlett) grabbed the lead and got to the quarter in :29. With the short field following in single file, Bartlett throttled down the half even more to a :59.1 saunter and still didn’t get any opposition from behind until well into the second circuit.
Halfway up the backstretch, McNair finally pulled Cowgirl Hanover, who quickly made her way to second in a now up tempo 28 flat third panel. As the pair made their way around the last turn, Cowgirl Hanover got to within one-half length of The Last Martini, but that would be as close as she would get. The Last Martini paced furiously down the lane and refused to give up any ground at all to Cowgirl Hanover and won by one-half length in a 1:54.4 mile that featured a :27.3 final quarter.
It was the second straight win for The Last Martini ($19.80) and it pushed her earnings to $110,399 for owner Glenview Livestock. Jared Bako trains the winner who was bred by Crawford Farms.
There were also four $20,000 Excelsior stakes on the card and these are the winners in order of race.
Huntingfortreasure (Huntsville-Worldly Treasure) won in 1:57.4 for driver Mark Macdonald, trainer Ray Schnittker and owner/breeder Steve Jones.
Fashion Terror (Huntsville-High Fashion Model) won in 1:58.1 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Mark Ford and owner/breeder All Star Racing.
Beantown Deuce (Huntsville-Don’t Think Twice A) won in 1:58.2 for driver Brett Beckwith, trainer George Ducharme and owner Michael Goldberg, who bred the filly with Andrew Harris.
Fansville (Huntsville-Caviart Elena) won in 1:55 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Joe Bongiorno and owner Chain Lightning Stables. Eric Tadeo bred the winner.
Jason Bartlett added one overnight victory and ended his night with a grand slam in the bike.
Another big winner on Wednesday was Huntsville, who sired all five NYSS and Excelsior winners and also 10 of the 15 horses who hit the board in those same five races.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Aug. 17) 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.