Free Flyin Ticket romps in feature pace

HAMBURG, N.Y. — Free Flyin Ticket (Betterthancheddar-Free Ticket) took off early and was ‘flyin’ high the rest of the way in posting a lopsided 10 length harness racing victory in Buffalo Raceway’s $11,500 featured pace for the filly and mares on a perfect spring afternoon Wednesday (April 12).

One-sided victories are becoming the norm for Free Flyin Ticket. In her last decision back on March 15, she was a gate-to-wire winner by 10-1/4 lengths in 1:56. While slightly slower this time around with a 1:57 clocking, it was by far more dominating.

Scoring from the inside, driver Kyle Cummings pushed Free Flyin Ticket right off the starting gate and enjoyed a comfortable two length advantage hitting the opening quarter in a rather leisurely :30.0. But a :28.1 second panel spelled doom for the rest of the field as Free Flyin Ticket hit the half in :58.1 and opened up an eight length lead.

There was no contest after that as Free Flyin Ticket was up by an insurmountable 15 lengths with a final pole to go and jogged home a 10 length winner. Ruthmae Hanover (Kevin Cummings) won the photo over Ashlee’s Delight (David McNeight III) for second place honors.

Owned by Beasty LLC, the 6-year-old Free Flyin Ticket is trained by James Clouser Jr. It was her second triumph of the campaign in 12 starts, pushing her 2023 earnings to $24,405 and $237,170 lifetime. She paid $5.20 to win.

There were five divisions of the Jumpstart Series for horses with a Trackmaster Rating of 70 or less. There were no shockers in the $10,000 events as things held pretty much true to form.

Bet I’m Lucky ($6.40) was the fastest on the afternoon with a 1:56.3 time under the guidance of McNeight III). Seafood Sweetheart made it five victories in a row as driver Joseph Chindano posted the extremely popular $2.10 in 1:57.2.

Others finding the winner’s circle in the Series were Chipper Daisy ($5.90, 1:59.1), Machbook Pro ($3.40, 1:59.4) and Artistic Spirit ($4.00, 1:58.3).

Jim Morrill Jr. continued his torrid streak as he notched another five victories on the day, his second five-bagger at the Hamburg half-mile oval on the past two cards. McNeight III and Keith Kash Jr. had doubles on the program. Jennifer Giuliani had a triple on the training side while Samuel Smith and Jim Graham each had two wins.

Racing will resume on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with a 12-race card to be presented.

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by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway