{"id":69176,"date":"2025-10-19T01:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T05:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=69176"},"modified":"2025-10-19T01:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T05:05:25","slug":"genesee-county-valentine-express-melanion-n-take-saturday-night-features-at-batavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/19\/genesee-county-valentine-express-melanion-n-take-saturday-night-features-at-batavia\/","title":{"rendered":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Valentine Express, Melanion N take Saturday night features at Batavia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Batavia, NY — A pair of $12,500 Opens \u2013 one on the trot and one on the pace \u2013 were featured at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Oct. 18) night and both winners scored from off the pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being overlooked by the public at 6-1, Valentine Express powered his way to victory in the Open Handicap trot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine Express (Joe Chindano Jr.) got away fourth as Crazy Ritz (Jim McNeight Jr.) parked out El Toro Loco (Keving Cummings) almost to the quarter before the latter cleared before the turn. Now in control, El Toro Loco got to the half in :57.4, where Valentine Express was out and rolling first-over heading onto the second circuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine Express methodically made up ground on El Toro Loco and took the lead just before he swung into the final turn. From there, under highly animated urging from Chindano, Valentine Express shot into the lane and trotted home to a 2-\u00be length victory in 1:56.1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the eighth win of the year for Valentine Express ($14.58) who is owned by Rock 01 Stable and trained by Jerry Nugent Jr. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the Open Handicap pace, Melanion N turned an early three-eighths move into his fifth win of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Melanion N (Drew Monti) got away fifth as Stakeholder (Dave McNeight III), Mea Culpa A (Kevin Cummings) and Lanjo Lee (Kyle Cummings) sprint three-across the track to the quarter before Lanjo Lee finally landed on top. Once there, Lanjo Lee paced unfettered on the front to the half in :56.3 before Melanion N approached him in turn three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lanjo Lee fought hard to keep Melanion N on the rim, but Melanion N had other ideas and cleared before three-quarter. Immediately, Livonjaxnadqueens (Denny Bucceri) was right outside of the leader looking for paydirt. The two separated from the field as they headed down the lane where Melanion N held off Livonjacksandqueens by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.1, which was a new seasonal mark for the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanion N ($5.04) who is owned by Dr. Michael Miller and trained by Maria Rice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew Monti and Joe Chindano Jr. each had driving hat tricks while trainers Mike Deters and Sam Smith both sent two winners to post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Oct. 22) with post time at 6:00 p.m. and there will be a $6,001 carryover in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 12th race. 
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. Then you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY — A pair of $12,500 Opens \u2013 one on the trot and one on the pace \u2013 were featured at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Oct. 18) night and both winners scored from off the pace. \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69177,"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-69176","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-hZK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58426,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/26\/genesee-county-lanjo-lee-and-valentine-express-take-batavia-features\/","url_meta":{"origin":69176,"position":0},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Lanjo Lee and Valentine Express take Batavia features","author":"aka","date":"October 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY \u2014 Saturday (Oct. 26) at Batavia Downs means double-feature night and two Open Handicaps valued at $13,000 each went to post with full fields.\u00a0 The Open pace was first and Lanjo Lee (Kyle Cummings) drafted to\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\/2024\/10\/Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lanjo-Lee-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":68842,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/04\/genesee-county-duke-lavictoire-breaks-batavia-downs-track-trot-record\/","url_meta":{"origin":69176,"position":1},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Duke Lavictoire breaks Batavia Downs track trot record","author":"aka","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery) Batavia, NY --- Despite being parked out three-deep to the half,\u00a0Duke Lavictoire went on to win the $12,500 Open Handicap trot with authority and set a new track record for aged trotting geldings at Batavia Downs on\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\/10\/Duke-Lavictoire1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Duke-Lavictoire1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Duke-Lavictoire1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Duke-Lavictoire1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Duke-Lavictoire1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80306,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2026\/09\/05\/genesee-county-shoobee-doo-a-valentine-express-split-features-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":69176,"position":2},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Shoobee Doo A, Valentine Express split features at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"September 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs (Photos courtesy of Aurora Wzientek) Batavia, NY \u2014 The venerable 11-year-old Shoobee Doo A scored his 55th career win and pushed his lifetime earnings north of $600,000 after his very impressive victory in the $13,500 Open Handicap pace, which was one of two featured\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\/2026\/09\/1000008661.png?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1000008661.png?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1000008661.png?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1000008661.png?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1000008661.png?fit=1200%2C829&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69506,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/25\/genesee-county-crazy-ritz-livonjaxnqueens-win-headliners-at-batavia-downs\/","url_meta":{"origin":69176,"position":3},"title":"GENESEE COUNTY\/Crazy Ritz, Livonjaxnqueens win headliners at Batavia Downs","author":"aka","date":"October 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming (Photos courtesy of Wendy J. 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Lowery) Batavia, NY --- A pair of $12,500 Opens were featured at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Nov. 29) night and both winners came from off the pace to take the top prize. 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Lowery) Batavia, NY --- Two $12,500 Open class races were carded at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Nov. 22) night with each winner turning in quick performances. The Open Handicap trot went first and Crazy Ritz matched his seasonal\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\/2025\/11\/Crazy-Ritz-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\/11\/Crazy-Ritz-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Crazy-Ritz-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Crazy-Ritz-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/videonewsservice.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Crazy-Ritz-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\/2025\/10\/Melanion-N-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69176","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=69176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69179,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69176\/revisions\/69179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}