Off the pace winners standout in Opens

Batavia, NY — A pair of $12,500 Opens – one on the trot and one on the pace – were featured at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Oct. 18) night and both harness racing winners scored from off the pace.

Despite being overlooked by the public at 6-1, Valentine Express powered his way to victory in the Open Handicap trot.

Valentine Express (Joe Chindano Jr.) got away fourth as Crazy Ritz (Jim McNeight Jr.) parked out El Toro Loco (Keving Cummings) almost to the quarter before the latter cleared before the turn. Now in control, El Toro Loco got to the half in :57.4, where Valentine Express was out and rolling first-over heading onto the second circuit.

Valentine Express methodically made up ground on El Toro Loco and took the lead just before he swung into the final turn. From there, under highly animated urging from Chindano, Valentine Express shot into the lane and trotted home to a 2-¾ length victory in 1:56.1.

VALENTINE EXPRESS REPLAY

It was the eighth win of the year for Valentine Express ($14.58) who is owned by Rock 01 Stable and trained by Jerry Nugent Jr.

Later in the Open Handicap pace, Melanion N turned an early three-eighths move into his fifth win of the year.

Melanion N (Drew Monti) got away fifth as Stakeholder (Dave McNeight III), Mea Culpa A (Kevin Cummings) and Lanjo Lee (Kyle Cummings) sprint three-across the track to the quarter before Lanjo Lee finally landed on top. Once there, Lanjo Lee paced unfettered on the front to the half in :56.3 before Melanion N approached him in turn three.

Lanjo Lee fought hard to keep Melanion N on the rim, but Melanion N had other ideas and cleared before three-quarter. Immediately, Livonjaxnadqueens (Denny Bucceri) was right outside of the leader looking for paydirt. The two separated from the field as they headed down the lane where Melanion N held off Livonjacksandqueens by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.1, which was a new seasonal mark for the winner.

MELANION N REPLAU

Melanion N ($5.04) who is owned by Dr. Michael Miller and trained by Maria Rice.

Drew Monti and Joe Chindano Jr. each had driving hat tricks while trainers Mike Deters and Sam Smith both sent two winners to post.

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Oct. 22) with post time at 6:00 p.m. and there will be a $6,001 carryover in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 12th race.

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. Then you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs