Batavia, NY – Heavy oscillating snow showers falling all over the race map and temperatures hovering around 15 degrees provided the conditions to deal with for those racing at Batavia Downs on Thursday afternoon (January 15). But despite the bad weather, the program featured many impressive performances, including from one of North America’s leading drivers.
Brett Beckwith transferred from Saratoga that day and headed back east with five win checks under his belt, including a natural hat trick in the final three races of the day. Beckwith won with Timeto Communicate (2:02, $2.74), Mcvera (2:02, $6.36), Woodmere Alvin (1:59, $8.32), Machaholic (2:02.3, $5.84) and Beacon Beach.
Beacon Beach won the co-featured $12,500 Open I-II Handicap trot in gate-to-wire fashion. Beckwith took command of Beacon Beach from a pylon start, cutting quarters of :29.1, 1:00.2 and 1:30.4 before rounding the final turn to comfortably seal the deal by 1-¾ lengths in 2:00.1.
Beacon Beach ($5.02) is owned by El Dorado Stables and trained by Sam Smith.
BEACON BEACH WINS IN THE SNOW REPEAT
In the other $12,500 Open Handicap pace, Hunter Hill (Drew Monti) won the hard way, after being parked at every step of the mile before pulling away in the lane.
It was a five-horse, three-deep battle to get to the lead at the gate before things settled down. Davey Day Trader (Kyle Swift) eventually settled for the lead, passing the quarter in :27.4, while all other players found themselves in open spots.
That’s all but Hunter Hill, who was fifth in the wind as they exited turn two and passed the grandstand the first time. Davey Day Trader reached halftime in :58.1, with Hunter Hill moving into second on the outside as the race moved to five-eighths.
Hunter Hill approached almost three-quarters alongside Davey Day Trader and the pair were joined by Stranger Things (Shawn McDonough), who had swung three deep and was flying. As the trio rounded the bend, Hunter Hill began to separate from the others and was well clear as he straightened up for home. And from there, Hunter Hill swelled under a line drive and broke the lead by two in 1:58.1.
HUNTER HILL REPEAT
Hunter Hill ($6.98) is owned and trained by Scott West.
Hunter Hill was the first of three straight wins for Monti, who followed it up with “dubs” of Kb’ssweetcaroline (2:01, $2.92) and Rock Me Always (1:59.1, $9.80), both owned by El Dorado Stable and Mike Torcello.
Rock Me Always is trained by Mae Smith, who also won with Tymal Envoy (2:01.2, $4.54) and the aforementioned Machaholic, giving her a hat trick of her own and leading all conditioners for wins on Thursday.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (January 20) at 3pm
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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