Cummings shines at Batavia

Batavia, NY — The third leg of the Western New York Trackmaster series for harness racing pacers was featured at Batavia Downs on Monday afternoon (Feb. 5) and going in, there were three horses still undefeated in that competition.

However by the end of the day, only one stayed perfect and that was Long Train Runnin (Big Bad John), who won his third straight $9,000 Trackmaster 79 division.

Former western New York regular and Batavia Downs 2019 driving leader, Billy Davis Jr., made a visit to his old haunts to drive Long Train Runnin and got away fourth as Oreo Dream Xtreme (Jim Morrill Jr.) led to the half in 1:00.1. As the group rolled past that station, Davis pulled Long Train Runnin first-up in the breeze and advanced to the lead at three-quarters in 1:28.3. From there, Long Train Runnin opened up a 2-¾ length lead in the turn before bolting home under Davis wraps in 1:57.3.

Long Train Runnin ($3.30) is owned by Paige Usiak and William Emmons and is trained by Jim Clouser Jr.

LONG TRAIN RUNNIN REPLAY

Clouser and Emmons also teamed up to win with Proven Desire (Proven Lover, 1:57.1, $7.80) and Lanas Desire (1:56, $5.50), giving that connection a hat trick on Monday.

There was a two-for-one special in the day’s fifth race when Weekend Atnannies (Western Paradise) and Dry Ridge Ace (We Will See) finished in a dead heat.

Weekend Atnannies (Billy Davis Jr.) got away second behind Dancethebigdance N (John Cummings Jr.) who set a hot pace of :57.4 to the half. Anurka (Kevin Cummings) moved first-over from fifth and was followed by Dry Ridge Ace (Kyle Cummings) as they moved up the backstretch. Anurka took the lead with Dry Ridge Ace pacing right with him, while Weekend Atnannies was getting the shuffle in the last turn.

At the top of the stretch, Anurka and Dry Ridge Ace were joined by Weekend Atnannies, who finally found racing room and was full of pace. The three drew closer to each other as they approached the wire that they eventually hit simultaneously. When the photo came back, Dry Ridge Ace and Weekend Atnannies could not be separated and finished in a dead heat while Anurka was only a neck behind.

WEEKEND ATNANNIES / DRY RIDGE ACE REPLAY

Weekend Atnannies ($3.20) is owned by Benjamin Ortiz and trained by Joe Skowyra while Dry Ridge Ace ($15.80) is owned by Rock 01 Stable and is trained by Jerry Nugent Jr.

Despite the dead heat, the pick five combination of 3/7/7/3/1,4 still returned a healthy $1,019 for a 50-cent wager.

The other big winner on Monday was driver Kevin Cummings, who piloted five winners to lead all other reinsmen. Cummings scored with Treasurethosechips (Art’s Chip, 1:58.3, $31.60), All About Lynx (Southwind Lynx, 1:57.4, $5.90), Gallery Opening (Western Terror, 1:59.3, $9.30), Howmacs Hank (Source Of Pride, 1:58, $4.50) and Dogfight (Sweet Lou, 1:56.2, $5.80). With those victories, Cummings jumped into third place in the dash win competition for the meet with 16 wins and now sits behind Jim Morrill Jr. (22) and Brett Beckwith (17).

There was a plethora of plump payoffs during Monday’s card, led by Beddanburg (Artspeak, Drew Monti) who turned a three-wide move from seventh at three-quarters into a three-quarter length win in 1:58.2. Beddanburg was sent off at 43-1 and returned $89.50 for the win. Also producing large returns was Denmark Seelster (Big Jim, 1:57.3, $55.50), the aforementioned Treasurethosechips (1:58.3, $31.60), Fade To Gold (Allthatgltrsisgold, 1:59.2, $25.20) and A Game Changer (Shadow Play, 1:56.2, $16.80).

Trainer Sam Smith matched Clouser’s three training wins to finish the day as the conditioning co-leader.

Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Feb. 8) at 3 p.m. and the card will feature the third round of the Western New York Trackmaster series for trotters. Also, there will be a $949 carryover in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 13th race.

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