Batavia, NY As the 2025 Summer/Fall race meet at Batavia Downs comes to a close, it is time for the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association to once again name the session’s top performers at the UNY-USHWA Night of Distinction awards ceremony to be held on Saturday (Dec. 20), the final night of racing of the year.
This year has proven to be one of the most competitive in Batavia in recent history and as a result several horses are so close in performance numbers that it is almost too close to call. However, next Saturday’s (December 13) draw has provided the perfect situation for a fair resolution, as the top three pacers and the top two trotters will compete against each other in consecutive races on the schedule, and those results could provide a clearer picture of who will receive the prizes.
On the pacing side, I Ain’t No Mack, Davey Day Trader and Stranger Things come in as the most prolific local pacers this meet and all three will compete against each other in the sixth race.
I Ain’t No Mack has seven wins, four seconds and a third with earnings of $50,515, which is the most money a non-stakes competitor has made at the meet this year. Davey Day Trader has six wins, three seconds and a third with $45,060 in purses, while Stranger Things also has six wins by one second and six thirds and $45,059 in the bank. Stranger Things has already won this award twice before in 2022 and 2023.
As far as trotters are concerned, Crazy Ritz and El Toro Loco have been the best of the diagonal-gaiting bunch in Batavia since July.
Crazy Ritz has five wins and five seconds with $45,900 in winnings, while El Toro Loco also has five wins and $38,719 in spoils. They will lead the field of seven participants in the seventh race.
The pacer and trotter winner of this year’s meet will depend heavily on this week’s head-to-head results.
UNY-USHWA will also honor the meet’s top driver and trainer during the Night of Distinction.
Drew Monti is the runaway winner of the sprint title with 105 wins, which is 25 ahead of Kevin Cummings (80) and 26 ahead of Joe Chindano Jr. (79). Cummings just reached 5,000 victories last week in Batavia and Chindano needs just two more victories to reach 1,000 lifetime victories.
The training title is still up for grabs, although Sam Smith is top with 59 wins, which is a healthy seven wins ahead of Shawn McDonough who is second with 52 wins and there are three more nights of racing to make up for that.
This Saturday’s card features 13 races and all the racing action starts at 5pm
For full race entries, click here: American Trotting Entries.
Through Tim Boyarskifor Batavia Downs
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