Face The Shadows recovers from break to score narrow win

Batavia, NY — After making an uncharacteristic break during last week’s outing, Face The Shadows (Shadow Play) got right back on track with a hard-fought harness racing win in the $12,500 Open Handicap for fillies and mares at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 19) evening.

Face The Shadows (Kevin Cummings) got away fourth as Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings) paced sharply to the quarter in :28.2. But Cummings had her out and rolling shortly thereafter and was pacing adjacent to the leader, in the breeze as they passed the half in :57.3.

Won Surreal Deal and Face The Shadows continued to match strides around turn three, up the backstretch, through the final bend and to the top of the stretch, where Won Surreal Deal seemed to pull away by over a length. But Face The Shadows got back in gear and caught Won Surreal Deal while also fending off the fast closing Rightfully Mine (Jim McNeight Jr.) to win by a neck in 1:55.1.

It was the fifth win of the year for Face The Shadows ($18.70), who is owned by El Dorado Stables and Mike Torcello. Sam Smith trains the winner.

FACE THE SHADOWS REPLAY

Drivers Kevin Cummings, Dave McNeight III and Joe Chindano Jr. and trainer Courtney Wright all had two wins apiece during the program.

There were no winning tickets in the Pick-5 wager on Wednesday night and as a result, there is now a $6,143 carryover for that wager in the first race on Friday (Nov. 21) and the management of Batavia Downs has announced that the pool will be guaranteed at $15,000 through the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program. With that, free full past performance program pages will be offered as a free download (once available) on the USTA website (ustrotting.com) under the Handicapping tab.

When live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Nov. 21) with post time at 6:00 p.m., it will be the last Friday of racing for the year at Batavia as the track switches to a Wednesday-Saturday schedule starting on Wednesday (Nov. 26) and running through Saturday (Dec. 20).

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