Snow greets racing fans at Batavia

Batavia, NY — Cold, flurries and a snow-covered track greeted the harness racing participants on Wednesday night (Dec. 8) at Batavia Downs, but they weren’t the only things Delilah De Vie would have to deal with before she won the $12,100 Open II Handicap for distaff pacers, which headlined the night’s card.

As the race swept into the first turn, Queen Of Thrones (Ray Fisher Jr.) crossed over and interfered with Come Get The Cash (Leon Bailey) who then made a break in front of Delilah De Vie (Dave McNeight III) causing her, and others, to break and come to almost a complete stop.

Queen Of Thrones then kept going and got to the quarter in :28.4 with No Where To Hide (Kevin Cummings) and Lady London (Drew Monti) in closest pursuit. When the group got to the half, McNeight had gathered Delilah De Vie together and was now on the pylons traveling fourth.

Queen Of Thrones continued to lead up the backstretch but Delilah De Vie was on the move and gaining ground third on the outside. The top three horses all had a shot as the race headed into the stretch with Queen Of Thrones flanked by No Where To Hide on her left and Delilah De Vie to her right and at the line, Delilah De Vie was strongest of all winning by one length in 1:58.1.

Queen Of Thrones finished second but was disqualified and placed last for the interference she caused at the start of the race.

It was the sixth win of the year for Delilah De Vie ($18.60) and owner/trainer Brianne Good.

DELILAH DE VIE REPLAY

In the undercard $11,250 fillies and mares Open III pace, the Rosecroft newcomer Triple Dip (Kevin Cumming) made her first Batavia Downs start a winning one after going gate to wire while holding off a stubborn Watchwhatmyfeetdo (Denny Bucceri) by ½ length in 1:57.3. Triple Dip ($8.80) is owned by Mike Torcello and trained by Gerry Sarama.

The Cummings-Torcello-Sarama connection also won with Mcdelicacy (1:58.1, $6.90) earlier in the card, giving each two wins for the evening.

Driver Denny Bucceri also had two wins during the card.

There were winners in the guaranteed $10,000 Pick-5 on Wednesday and the 2-3-5-2-4 combination returned $1,254 for a 50-cent wager. The guarantee was met, and the final pool was $10,952.

Batavia Downs will close out the 2021 meet on Saturday (Dec. 11) and there will be one guaranteed pool and one carryover, and both will have mandatory payouts.

To start, there is a $3,500 guaranteed pool in the Pick-5 wager in the first race and it will be part of the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program. And as a result, free program pages will be available courtesy of TrackMaster on the USTA’s website and the Batavia Downs website and Facebook page. The Pick-5 is a 50-cent base wager that begins in race one and runs through race five.

Then in race six, there is a carryover of $1,188 in the Jackpot Pick-6. That is a 20-cent base wager and it runs through race nine.

And if you are attending live you can play the free Pick-6 contest for a chance to win $2,000. Just go to Players Club and get an entry blank and deposit it with your selections before the start of the fourth race. If you get all six winners correct, you will win $2,000.

Since this is the last day of the meet this contest is a must pay as well. If no one picks all six winners, the person with the most winners selected will get $1,000. If there are multiple winners, the $1,000 will be split evenly among the correct contestants. There is only one entry per person.

Saturday is also the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association’s awards presentations during the Night of Distinction where all the top horses, horsemen and dignitaries will be honored.

Free full card past performance program pages for Saturday and every live racing night at Batavia can always be downloaded at bataviadownsgaming.com under the live racing tab. And if you can’t attend live, you can still watch all the racing action via the Batavia Downs YouTube channel.

Post time for the first race is slated for 5 p.m.

For full race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs