By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)
Batavia, NY — Summer Slash took advantage of a step back from last week’s Open into a lower conditioned event at Batavia Downs, where she power-moved to victory in the $12,500 fillies and mares pacing feature on Wednesday (Oct. 9) night.
Center Attraction (Jim McNeight Jr.) took the lead passing the quarter and took the field to the half in a pedestrian :59. That prompted True That (Kevin Cummings) to move to the outside and summer Slash (Ray Fisher Jr.) took advantage of the cover from fifth. As the field bunched at three-quarters, Fisher tipped Summer Slash three-wide in the last turn and when they hit the stretch, she was gone. Summer Slash paced to the line clear by two in 1:57 over the rain-soaked track rated as good.
It was the fourth win of the year for Summer Slash ($8.80) who is owned by Ilovemyharnesshorsesummer and trained by Ryan Swift.
There were also two $9,500 conditioned paces for distaff competitors.
In the first, NY Hardcore (Bradley Jackson) sat behind Casie’s Believer (Joe Chindano Jr.) for seven-eighths of the mile before tipping into the passing lane and brushing to the line first by a half length in 1:58.3. Casie’s Believer ($5.20) is owned by Sonia Joly and trained by Francis Guillemette.
The second was won by Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings) who pulled first-over at the half to take the lead from Lookatmyart (Kevin Cummings) and then pull away from the field in the stretch by four lengths to win in 1:55.4. Won Surreal Deal ($6.60) is owned by Parsimonious Racing Stable and trained by Jeff Sorenson.
Driver Kyle Cummings and trainer Chris Petrelli each scored a hat trick to lead their respective categories on Wednesday.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 11) with post time at 6:00 p.m. and there will be a $2,699 carryover and the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 13th race.
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.