{"id":36315,"date":"2022-09-24T22:22:36","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T02:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=36315"},"modified":"2022-09-24T22:22:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T02:22:36","slug":"genesee-county-it-was-puzzling-who-won-batavias-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/09\/24\/genesee-county-it-was-puzzling-who-won-batavias-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"GENESEE COUNTY\/It was Puzzling who won Batavia\u2019s feature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batavia, NY \u2014 The Riddler and Vanna White would have been proud of the betting public after they figured out Puzzling should be the favorite in the $15,000 Open I Handicap on Saturday night (Sept. 24) at Batavia Downs and then collected their money after he dominated the locals with his season\u2019s best effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jim Morrill Jr. picked up the drive on the shipper Puzzling who was making his first ever start at the Downs. He wrangled the lead away from Stop Action (Kevin Cummings) at the :27 quarter and then laid the lumber on his foes from there. Morrill had the grippers on Puzzling to the half in a slow :29.1 and then rebuffed a challenge from Ideal Artillery (Jim McNeight Jr.) through the third quarter in a stepped-up :27.4. As the pocket-sitting Stop Action started to lose touch around the last turn, Puzzling took a two length lead into the stretch and cruised home to a 2-\u00bc length victory over Stratosphere (Drew Monti) in 1:52.3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 10-time winner in 2021, this was the second win and fastest time of this year for Puzzling ($6.70) who is owned by Rocco Stebbins. This was one of two wins on Saturday for trainer Joe Skowyra who also sent the Stebbins\u2019 owned Mississippi Rabbit (1:54.1, $3.20) to the winner’s circle. Morrill ended the night with three winners.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The undercard $14,000 Open II Handicap saw Blue Spanx (Keith Kash) set the pace to the half where Stranger Things (Kevin Cummings) pulled first-over with a rush. It took Stranger Things a quarter to draw even with Blue Spanx but when he did, it was a real race to the wire. The two pacers matched strides all the way down the stretch in close quarters and under heavy urging. When they hit the light Blue Spanx had the win by three-quarters of a length in 1:55.3. However, shortly after the race ended, the judges posted an inquiry and eventually placed Blue Spanx second for interfering with Stranger Things in the stretch, and declared Stranger Things the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Stranger Things ($5.90) got his third win in his last four starts and eighth win of the year for owners Virginia Schoeffel, Kathy Schoeffel and James Reuther. Angelo Nappo was the winning conditioner. Cummings had the hat trick in the bike by the evenings end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Sept. 24) 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<\/a> and clicking the “Live Racing” tab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 The Riddler and Vanna White would have been proud of the betting public after they figured out Puzzling should be the favorite in the $15,000 Open I Handicap on Saturday night (Sept. 24) at Batavia \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[376],"class_list":["post-36315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-batavia","tag-batavia-downs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-9rJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36800,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/10\/15\/genesee-county-lougazi-out-on-bail-capture-batavia-opens-saturday\/","url_meta":{"origin":36315,"position":0},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Lougazi, Out On Bail capture Batavia Opens Saturday","author":"aka","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 It was a big night of racing at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Oct. 15) with over $150,000 in purses up for grabs and the card was highlighted by a pair of $15,000 Opens for horses\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Batavia"","block_context":{"text":"Batavia","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/gennesse-county\/batavia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-10-15-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-10-15-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-10-15-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-10-15-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-10-15-2022-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46238,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/25\/genesee-county-morrill-sweeps-features-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":36315,"position":1},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Morrill sweeps features at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"August 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 The trotters were on full display under the Friday night (Aug. 25) lights at Batavia Downs but the spotlight fell directly on driver Jim Morrill Jr., who choreographed the journeys of the winners of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Batavia"","block_context":{"text":"Batavia","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/gennesse-county\/batavia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Makadushin-N-Cheez-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Makadushin-N-Cheez-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Makadushin-N-Cheez-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Makadushin-N-Cheez-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39594,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2023\/01\/29\/genesee-county-batavia-downs-offers-10000-guaranteed-pool-monday\/","url_meta":{"origin":36315,"position":2},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Batavia Downs offers $10,000 guaranteed pool Monday","author":"aka","date":"January 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Batavia, NY --- When live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Monday (Jan. 30) at 3 p.m. there will be two carryovers and one guaranteed pool available on the betting menu. 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