By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
Saturday (Sept. 28) marked the halfway point of the 2019 Batavia Downs harness racing season and all indicators are showing so far, it has been one of the best in the track’s history.
The on-track handle up 15.1 percent, the export handle is up 26.1 percent, OTB handle is up 8.7 percent and total betting from all sources associated with Western Regional OTB is up 20.5 percent or $820,609.
“The numbers are very impressive, but the product has been as well,” said Todd Haight, director/general manager of Live Racing at Batavia Downs. “Our overnight racing has been very competitive and we’ve had many guaranteed pools in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program which draw bettors from all over to follow our track.
"And our New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) Night of Champions was the jewel of the season and it has exposed many new local people to our sport as a result.”
Many horses have set seasonal or lifetime marks at Batavia since the meet started, plus seven new track records have already been set since July. Trotters Hypnotic Am, Quincy Blue Chip, Third Shift and CR Blazin Beauty along with pacers Hickfromfrenchlick, American Mercury and Cigars And Port account for those new track standards.
There were also two stake records broken by Hypnotic Am and Third Shift during the NYSS Night of Champions.
At this point of the season Billy Davis Jr. is the leading driver with 63 wins, Jim Morrill Jr. is second with 58 and Dave McNeight III is third with 46.
On the training side, James Clouser Jr. is on top with 37 wins, Maria Rice is second with 20 and David Russo sits third with 17.
There is a tie for the winningest horse between Blue Bell Bonny and Tullow N who each have visited Purple Haze Winner’s Circle five times.
The Batavia Downs meet will continue this afternoon (Oct. 2) with post time at 5 p.m. and runs through Saturday (Dec. 15) with a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday schedule. Post time for Wednesdays is at 5 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays are at 6 p.m. There is one remaining Monday meet, which is Columbus Day (Oct. 14) with an early post of 1:15 p.m.
