Batavia, NY — When Kevin Cummings teamed with Tymal Envoy (1:58, $5.08) to win the ninth race at Batavia Downs on Saturday evening (December 6), he recorded the 5,000th running victory of his illustrious 36-year career.
Cummings comes from a family steeped in running racing. His father John Cummings Sr. and brothers John Cummings Jr., Tony Cummings and Todd Cummings all trained and raced at Batavia Downs from 1979, with the brothers receiving practical training from their father at an early age.
After starting driving in 1989 at the age of 19, Cummings developed into a great racing driver who has topped the leaderboard almost every year since. And throughout his career, Cummings has been in demand as a driver and, as a result, has won a string of driving titles in Western New York, including five at Batavia Downs since the start of the Racino era in 2005. He has also finished second at The Downs five times during that same period.
Not only is Cummings a sought-after driver by local trainers, he also attracts some of the best visiting horses during the racing season when the New York Sire Stakes are in town. Additionally, he had the privilege of sitting behind $7 million big man Foiled Again in 2016 when they won the Downs’ signature event, the Robert J. Kane Memorial Pace, in 1:52.2. Cummings also won the Kane in 2006 with Michael Scores in 1:52.1.
When Cummings reached the 4,000 win milestone in 2021, he said: “It means a lot, it’s a good milestone and I would like to get to 5,000. But I don’t know if that will happen.” Well, it only took four years to get there and now that he’s only 55 years old, 6,000 seems like a very attainable goal for the savvy driving veteran.
Cummings’ career numbers now show 5,001 wins from 28,742 starts, including 4.676 seconds and 4.223 thirds, giving him a lifetime UDR of .313 and earnings of just under $27 million.
At the current Batavia Downs event, Cummings is now second for sprint wins with 80, along with 80 seconds and 68 thirds, which has earned him more than $640,000 in prize money.
Drew Monti wins six, Sam Smith wins five on a big night for both
Batavia Downs’ leading driver Drew Monti was on top on Saturday as he won six races on the card to extend his lead in the sprint title. Monti won with Brushing Up (1:57.4, $23.88), Rock Me Always (1:55.3, $4.28), Somebodyitreasure (1:55.2, $2.84), Treasured Tee (1:59, $2.78), Soul Assassin (1:56.2, $7.56) and Kb’ssweetcaroline (1:58, $4.96).
The five wins take Monti to 105 wins for the current Batavia meet, which is 25 ahead of his nearest competitor Kevin Cummings, who is second with 80. Joe Chindano Jr. is third, just one behind Cummings with 79 wins.
The Downs’ main trainer heading into Saturday is Sam Smith, but he significantly extended his lead after posting five wins. Smith’s victorious trainees include the aforementioned Brushing Up, Rock Me Always, Somebodyitreasure and Kb’ssweetcaroline, all of whom were piloted by Monti, along with Tymal Envoy, who gave Cummings his monumental win.
Smith now has 59 wins and is seven ahead of Shawn McDonough (52) with just four race cards remaining.
Livonjaxandqueens and Dougadougadew take two $12,500 features
There were two $12,500 feature races on Saturday – one at pace and one at the trot – and both winners were off-time favorites scoring from the pace.
First in the Open pace, Flag Party (Joe Chindano Jr.) set a pace of :57.4 at the half, where Livonjaxandqueens (Denny Bucceri) crossed the finish line first, coming within three-quarters of the leader in 1:25.2. Flag Party and Livonjaxandqueens ran side by side around the final turn, but as they entered the stretch Livonjaxandqueens began to fire away and eventually won by 1.5 lengths in 1:55.
LIVONJAXANDQUEENS REPEAT
It was the 10th win of the year for the heavily backed Livonjaxandqueens ($3.72), owned by Howard Ouriel and trained by Jim Rothfuss.
Then El Toro Loco (Kevin Cummings) cut fractions of :28.4, :59.2 and 1:28.4 in the open trot, while Dougadougadew (Kyle Cummings) finished third along the cones behind Gone Crazee (Drew Monti). But at the top of the stretch, Gone Crazee made a break, creating space for Dougadougadew to chugga-chugga through the passing lane, where he turned a 2.5-length deficit into a 1.5-length victory in 1:58.4.
It was the third score of the year for Dougadougadew ($4.76), owned by Doug and Tyra Ackley and trained by Tammy Cummings.
Live racing will resume on Wednesday (December 10) at Batavia Downs at a new, earlier post time of 5:00 PM, which will now be in effect for all race days until the end of the event.
On Wednesday, a $1,590 carryover is available in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta bet in the 13th race.
Free full card history performance programs for every live card of racing in Batavia can always be downloaded from The Downs website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the ‘Live Racing’ tab. Then you can watch all the races live for free as they happen on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
Through Tim Boyarskifor Batavia Downs
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