Jim McNeight Jr. snags five at Batavia

Batavia, NY — For the second time this meet, harness racing driver Jim McNeight Jr. visited the winner’s enclosure five times during the Wednesday night (Nov. 29) card at Batavia Downs to further enhance what has been a career year for the 27-year-old reinsman. His first foray with five came on October 6.

McNeight won with Mach Of Shame (1:59, $6.90), Fear Her Touch (1:57.2, $13.80), Chipper Daisey (1:57.1, $6.50), Ariyana Star (1:58, $118.00) and Red Hot Sun (1:59.1, $11.00). McNeight is currently the fourth leading driver of the Batavia meet with 57 wins, but his numbers for the year are what really stand out. He has 124 wins, $1.06 million in earnings and a UDR of .241, all of which are career highs by a great margin.

The one race McNeight didn’t win on Wednesday was the $15,000 featured pace for fillies and mares where Ray Fisher Jr. steered Summer Slash (Downbytheseaside) to her first victory after a two-month layoff.

Summer Slash was third and eight lengths off the pace of Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings) who skated through quarters of :27.2 and :57. Summer Slash made up the deficit by the five-eighths and Fisher pulled the mare heading up the backstretch. As the race moved past three-quarters, Summer Slash moved into second place and under a line drive by Fisher, ran down Won Surreal Deal in the stretch to win by 1-¼ lengths in 1:55.

It was the ninth win of the year for Summer Slash ($8.30) who is owned by Ilovemyharnesshorsesummer and trained by Ryan Swift.

SUMMER SLASH REPLAY

In the $11,500 conditioned pace for fillies and mares, A Black Diamond (Betterthancheddar) with driver Dave McNeight III) won her 13th race of the year, eight of which came at Batavia Downs. After leaving from post one, A Black Diamond led every step of the mile and won by three-quarters of a length over the tripped-out Imprincessgemma A (Brett Beckwith) in 1:55.4. A Black Diamond ($2.40) is owned by Lav Racing Stable and trained by Russell Bratt.

A BLACK DIAMOND REPLAY

Jim Rothfuss had two training wins to lead all conditioners on Wednesday.

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Dec. 2) at 6:00 p.m. and there will be a $519 carryover in the Jackpot Hi-5 pentafecta wager in race 13.

Free full 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 and all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free at the Batavia Downs Live Facebook page.

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

by Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs