Bills, Batavia fans rejoice – closing card time changed

Batavia, NY — The management of Batavia Downs announced today (Dec. 6) that post time for the final card of harness racing for 2022 scheduled for Saturday (Dec. 17) has been changed from 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. This was done after the week 15 game between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins was flexed to 8:15 p.m. by the National Football League.

Don Hoover, General Manager of Live Racing and Race Secretary at Batavia Downs, said: “After the NFL announced that the Bills/Dolphins game had been flexed to Saturday night, it was decided to move our post time to 3 p.m. to accommodate the fans of both live harness racing and the Buffalo Bills.”

With that change in place, several other times have changed as well.

Horsemen should be advised that the track will close for training at noon on Dec. 17 to prepare it for the afternoon races.

The clubhouse will open the doors at 2:30 p.m. and will offer a prime rib and shrimp buffet that will be served from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Railbar will be open at 2:30 p.m. until the end of the last race, which will be approximately 7:00 p.m. However, it will not remain open for the Bills Game.

The final day of racing will also host the “Night of Distinction” year-end awards which will be presented by the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association and Batavia Downs to honor all the human and equine stars of the 2022 meeting.

by Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs