Racine Bell smashes track record

Batavia, NY — Racine Bell (So Surreal), who equaled the 4-year-old pacing mare world record of 1:48.1 at the Meadowlands in June and has been dominant in the Open class at Yonkers Raceway since spring, shipped into Batavia Downs on Wednesday night (Aug. 4) and demolished the existing track record for aged harness racing pacing mares after a dominant gate to wire victory in 1:51.3 in the $11,200 Mares Open pace.

Jason Bartlett took no prisoners off the gate and set torrid fractions of :27.2, :55.4 and 1:23.3, extending her lead at each station while the rest of the field tried to keep up. But that was not going to happen on this night as Racine Bell accelerated around the last turn and put a copious amount of real estate between her and the competition. In full flight down the stretch, Bartlett urged on Racine Bell, who responded and paced home in :28 flat to win by eight lengths in 1:51.3.

RACINE BELL REPLAY

The previous track record was 1:53 set by Xenia Hanover in 2013. The 1:51.3 clocking was also only 2/5th’s of a second off the all-time pacing track record of 1:51.1 set by Aracache Hanover in 2011.

It was the 10th win of the year in only 16 starts for Racine Belle ($2.10) and it pushed her 2021 earnings to $174,050 for owners Chris Lawton and Dale Lawton, David Dewhurst trains the winner.

Two divisions of New York Sire Stake 2-year-old trotting colts converged at Batavia Downs on Wednesday night (Aug. 4) to compete for a total purse of $101,700 and when the dust settled, Molotov Cocktail stole the show with eye-popping domination in a runaway win.

Six trotters went postward for $50,400 and Scotty Zeron left hard with Molotov Cocktail (Chapter Seven-Moonlight Cocktail) from post five and got parked three-deep to the quarter in :28.4. But that difficult opening had no effect whatsoever on the colt who cleared, opened up two lengths and then proceeded to annihilate the field.

Zeron hit the half in :58.3 and then backed off the third quarter to 1:28.3, but had also opened up a six-length lead at that point. Circling the final bend Molotov Cocktail stretched that margin to seven and then while Zeron sat chilly down the lane, the colt swelled up and extended his lead to 11 lengths at the light where he won in 1:57.4.

It was the second win of the year for Molotov Cocktail ($4.30) and both came in NYSS action. The colt is owned by Richard Gutnik, Thomas Pontone and Gary Cocco. Hall of Famer Linda Toscano trains the winner.

MOLOTOV COCKTAIL REPLAY

In the first $51,300 division, Quincy Market (E L Titan-Dance To Market) was a convincing gate to wire winner in a personal best effort.

Corey Callahan left like a rocket from post six in the field of seven with Quincy Market and took the lead three strides into the race. After settling on the pylons halfway into the turn, Grand Spa (Scott Zeron) followed in second and after two horses behind them broke at the eighth pole scattering the field, these top two were ahead by 15 lengths and it basically became a match race. The 7-5 co-favorites then continued to trot one-two in a :59.3 half and 1:29.2 three-quarters.

Quincy Market looked strong on the point and had a three length advantage over Grand Spa in the last turn. At the top of the stretch, Grand Spa was still gapped and then made an unfortunate break, taking him out of contention. From there, Quincy Market trotted home under mild urging from Callahan and was the easiest of winners in 1:59.3, which was a new lifetime mark.

Quincy Market’s career outing was his second lifetime win, both coming in NYSS action and he hasn’t missed the board all year. Owned by Harmony Oaks Racing Stable, James Crawford IV, Berg Bros. Stable and the Yorwollahan Racing Team, Quincy Market ($4.90) is trained by John Butenschoen.

QUINCY MARKET REPLAY

Jason Bartlett had another stellar night at the Downs scoring four driving wins during the evening.

Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Aug. 7) with post time at 6:00 p.m.

For full race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs