By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
Although Batavia Downs has had their 2018 live racing season underway since Monday (July 23), this will be the first regularly scheduled Friday (Aug. 17) of the meet due to other events going on at the facility. Friday racing will now be conducted weekly until the end of the meet with a 6 p.m. post time.
This Friday will feature the best trotters on the grounds vying in Open I, II and III classes. But aside from the racing, there will be much more going on in front of an almost sold out clubhouse.
The “Races to Benefit the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester” (www.bccr.org) fundraiser will be held at the track raising both awareness and dollars to fight this deadly disease. This annual event is one of the bigger fundraisers held by this organization and Batavia Downs has partnered with them for years now and is proud to be a part of this very worthy cause.
“We have partnered with BCCR for several years now and each year this event gets bigger and better” said Todd Haight, Director/General Manager of Live Racing. “It’s an opportunity for us to help raise money to defeat the scourge of cancer in our lifetime. The generosity of our patrons and horsemen always shine through and I’m sure we will see that again this week.”
There will be a silent auction held adjacent to the clubhouse with a list of prizes that will please anyone’s taste. They include: two suite tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert at Key Bank Center on Sunday (Oct. 28); two suite tickets for the Buffalo Bills versus Jacksonville Jaguars game at New Era Field on Sunday (Nov. 25); four suite tickets to the Buffalo Sabres versus Tampa Bay Lightning game at Key Bank Center on Tuesday (Nov. 13); a Buffalo Sabres autographed Jack Eichel jersey; a Buffalo Sabres autographed Danny Gare jersey; one Batavia Downs Hotel night and racing package; two Batavia Downs clubhouse racing packages; and a recliner form Max Pies Furniture in Batavia.
The track will also be taking cash donations that will be forwarded directly to BCCR.
Also on Friday, Batavia Downs will be offering a guaranteed $1,750 early Pick-5 pool with an $838 carry over. It's a 50-cent base wager that runs from race one to race five. Post time for the first race is 6 p.m.
