{"id":55411,"date":"2024-08-03T22:42:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T02:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=55411"},"modified":"2024-08-03T22:42:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T02:42:00","slug":"genesee-county-stranger-things-power-and-grace-take-batavia-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2024\/08\/03\/genesee-county-stranger-things-power-and-grace-take-batavia-features\/","title":{"rendered":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Stranger Things, Power And Grace take Batavia features"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\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 A pair of $13,500 Open Handicaps \u2013 one on the pace and one on the trot \u2013 highlighted the Saturday (Aug. 3) night card at Batavia Downs and both events provided exciting finishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the pacing feature, Stranger Things (Jim Morrill Jr.) tripped out to victory with a fast finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vel Mr. Nice Guy (Joe Chindano Jr.) and Stranger Things lined up one-two off the gate and skated through very soft fractions of :28.2 and :58.2 before Scribblers (Kyle Swift) led the charge on the outside heading into turn three. Chindano picked up the pace with Vel Mr. Nice Guy with a :27.4 third quarter and that erased Scribblers advance. But as that one faded around the final bend, it gave Stranger Things a clear path from the pocket to the middle of the track. At the top of the stretch, Morrill simply loose-lined Stranger Things who then just paced right buy Vel Mr. Nice Guy on his own to win by one-half length in 1:54.2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the second win in the last three starts for Stranger Things ($12.80) who is owned by Kathy Schoeffel and James Reuther and trained by Angelo Nappo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morrill ended the night with a grand slam in the bike as he also won with Tiger Baron (1:54.3, $2.50), Sleeping Single (1:55.4, $4.80) and Stay Safe (1:59.3, $2.30). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then in the top trot, Power And Grace (Drew Monti) hung tough late to beat the boys and claim her 65th career victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

E Street (Kevin Cummings) grabbed the front first and yielded to Power And Grace at the :27.2 quarter. But as soon as she seated, Crazy Ritz (Jim McNeight Jr.) took the lead from her as they trotted past three-eights. But immediately, Monti pulled Power And Grace back out at the half and went back to the top, and this time for good. E Street pulled back out from third in the clubhouse turn and trotted alongside Crazy Ritz in second to three-quarters in 1:26.4. But that bid failed leaving Crazy Ritz clear to take his best shot. He pulled heading into the stretch and incrementally drew alongside Power And Grace. Both horses dug in for the line but Power And Grace was too good and hung on to win in 1:56.4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the ninth win of the year and 65th Lifetime victory for Power And Grace ($6.00) who is owned by Hartel Maintenance, Lormer McClure, Brett Macdonald and Reg Higgs. Ronald Macdonald trains the 9-year-old daughter of Holiday Road-Mark Of Honour who has hit the board in 71% of her 202 career starts and sports a lifetime win percentage of 32%.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monti scored the hat trick at the lines after also winning with I\u2019m Already Gone (1:55.3, $13.40) and Maskedman (1:55.4, $4.40).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Smith led all trainers on Saturday with two wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Batavia Downs driving legend Gaston Guindon visited the track on Saturday and he was greeted by throngs of fans who vividly recalled his decades of driving dominance over the Genesee County oval. Guindon topped the local driver colony throughout the 1980\u2019s and 90\u2019s while winning many driving titles there during that time. The native of Buckingham, Quebec that made western New York his home for many years, left an indelible mark on the local harness racing scene while setting a standard of driving excellence that is still revered today. Guindon\u2019s 3,080 wins and $7 million in purses highlighted a career that wrapped up in 2004 when \u201cThe Gasser\u201d officially retired.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (Aug. 6) at 6 p.m. and there will be a $1,004 carryover in the Super Hi-5 in race 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at the Downs\u2019 website (bataviadownsgaming.com<\/a>) under the \u201cLive Racing\u201d tab and all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free at the Batavia Downs Live Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 A pair of $13,500 Open Handicaps \u2013 one on the pace and one on the trot \u2013 highlighted the Saturday (Aug. 3) night card at Batavia Downs and both events provided exciting finishes.  In the \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55412,"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":[8,23,1],"tags":[376],"class_list":["post-55411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-batavia","category-genesee-county","category-uncategorized","tag-batavia-downs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-epJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70077,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/15\/genesee-county-el-toro-loco-stranger-things-splash-to-batavia-wins\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":0},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/El Toro Loco, Stranger Things splash to Batavia wins","author":"aka","date":"November 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY --- Two top class events were featured at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Nov. 15) night and despite the extremely inclement weather conditions, both winners turned in very impressive performances.\u00a0 The features were run in successive\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\/2025\/11\/El-Toro-Loco1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/El-Toro-Loco1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/El-Toro-Loco1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/El-Toro-Loco1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/El-Toro-Loco1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":67159,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/17\/genesee-county-stranger-things-sneaks-through-late-for-batavia-open-upset\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":1},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Stranger Things sneaks through late for Batavia Open upset\u00a0","author":"aka","date":"August 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY --- After laying in wait for over seven-eighths of the mile, Stranger Things found a gap late and shot through it to narrowly win the $12,800 Open Handicap pacing feature at Batavia Downs on Saturday\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\/2025\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48030,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/29\/genesee-county-kevin-cummings-cops-both-batavia-features\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":2},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Kevin Cummings cops both Batavia features","author":"aka","date":"October 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 Batavia Downs leading driver Kevin Cummings added a couple more wins to his total for the meet after taking the top two contests at the Genesee County oval on Saturday night (Oct. 28).\u00a0 After moving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genesee County"","block_context":{"text":"Genesee County","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/category\/genesee-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Out-On-Bail-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\/10\/Out-On-Bail-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Out-On-Bail-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Out-On-Bail-1.jpg?fit=1022%2C681&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69691,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/01\/genesee-county-cummings-longshots-dominate-saturday-features-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":3},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Cummings\u2019 longshots dominate Saturday features at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"November 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Batavia, NY --- Batavia Downs programmed two $12,500 Opens on Saturday (Nov. 1) night and both saw double-digit longshots win under the guidance of driver Kevin Cummings, in finishes so close that the second victory was a dead-heat with another Cummings driving a mutuel outsider, namely Kyle.\u00a0\u00a0 In the Open\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\/2025\/11\/DH-Stranger-Things-and-Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DH-Stranger-Things-and-Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DH-Stranger-Things-and-Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DH-Stranger-Things-and-Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DH-Stranger-Things-and-Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36944,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2022\/10\/22\/genesee-county-lougazi-nabs-50th-win-morrill-wins-six-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":4},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Lougazi nabs 50th win; Morrill wins six at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"October 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 The Saturday night (Oct.22) card at Batavia Downs once again featured a pair of $14,000 Opens \u2013 one on the trot and one on the pace \u2013 and the winner of both races set personal\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-50th-win.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-50th-win.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-50th-win.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-50th-win.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Lougazi-50th-win.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":66922,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/genesee-county-monti-and-rice-sweep-saturday-features-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":55411,"position":5},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Monti and Rice sweep Saturday features at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"August 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY --- Driver Drew Monti and trainer Maria Rice teamed up to capture the top two feature races at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Aug. 9) evening with Melanion N and Lip Reader A and both winners got\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\/2025\/08\/Lip-Reader-A-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lip-Reader-A-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lip-Reader-A-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lip-Reader-A-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Lip-Reader-A-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Stranger-Things-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55411"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55416,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions\/55416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}