Cummings wins half the card at Batavia

Batavia, NY — Harness racing driver Kevin Cummings had a good day at the office at Batavia Downs on Wednesday night (Dec. 1) after winning five races on the 10-race card, including the $12,100 Open II Handicap for distaff pacers where No Where To Hide made quick and easy work of a short field of six pacing mares.

Cummings put No Where To Hide on the point and led at every station from there. After putting the single-file group to sleep in a very pedestrian :59.3, No Where To Hide continued to pace sharply under a strong hold until three-quarters where Cummings tapped the gas and gave the mare her head.

Taking a 1-1/4 length into the final turn, No Where To Hide paced away in the stretch and extended her advantage to two lengths at the light where she won in 1:57.3.

No Where To Hide ($3.20) captured her ninth win of the year and inflated her earnings to $59,054 for owner Rocco Stebbins. Joe Skowyra trains the winner.

NO WHERE TO HIDE REPLAY

Cummings also won the $9,900 Open III co-featured pace for female side-wheelers with Lady London ($5.00) who followed a similar path to victory, leading gate to wire and posting a 1:55.3 win which turned out to be the fastest mile of the night. Lady London is owned by VHF Racing and is trained by Sabrina Shaw.

Cummings also won with Sanchez Rocks (1:59.4, $4.90), Photo Bomber (1:59.3, $3.80) and King Harvest (1:58.3, $6.90) who rounded out his “thumb-ringing” performance.

Cummings never missed the board in his 10 drives on Wednesday, also grabbing three seconds and two thirds to finish the night with an eye-popping .733 UDR. He is currently the second leading dash driver at the Batavia meet with 65 wins and $477,418 in earnings. Overall, in 2021 Cummings has 142 wins and has banked $940,662 so far this year and is headed towards his tenth season of earnings in excess of $1 million.

Several other horsemen had notable nights at the Downs on Wednesday as well. They include driver Denny Bucceri and trainer Robert Krenitsky Jr. who teamed up for two wins and trainer Sammy Smith who sent out Cummings fourth and fifth winners of the night.

When live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Dec. 4) carryover madness continues as two will be available including the largest in track history that continues to grow.

First in race six, there is a small but mentionable carryover of $604 in the Jackpot Pick-6. That is a 20-cent base wager and it runs through race 11. But then in race 11 you will find the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta that currently has the largest carryover in the history of Batavia Downs — $25,699. This carryover has been building for over three months and a single unique winning ticket on the right combination will take down the entire pool. The Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta is also a 20-cent base wager.

Free full card past performance program pages for 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 Saturday is slated for 5 p.m.

For full race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs