Morrill, Giuliani take top honors at Batavia Downs

Batavia, NY — Jim Morrill Jr. and Jennifer Giuliani have been named the top harness racing driver and trainer of the 2021 Batavia Downs meet that comes to a close on Saturday (Dec. 11).

Morrill had this title wrapped up at the halfway mark as he got off to a hot start in July and burned his way through November. Morrill finished the meet with 365 starts, 116 wins, 71 seconds and 46 thirds to post a stellar .468 UDR. Those 64% in-the-money finishes garnered his connections $714,074 in earnings making him the top earner as well.

Kevin Cummings finished second with 68 wins and $504,137 in purses and the meet’s Rising Star Award winner Kyle Cummings was third with 50 wins and $394,862 banked.

Jennifer Giuliani was in a tight race all year but came out on top with 41 wins, 24 seconds and 22 thirds out of 146 starts that produced $207,379 in earnings and a UTR of .422. Her horses hit the board 60% of the time and she also trained the Batavia Downs claimer of the meet, Raksmach N.

Maria Rice finished second with 40 wins and $311,602 in purses (which made her the highest earning stable on the grounds) and Gerry Sarama was third with 36 wins and $234,722 earned.

Jim Morrill Jr. and Jennifer Giuliani will be presented a trophy from the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association for their achievements but since Morrill has already started his winter break and Giuliani has relocated to Pompano Park for winter racing, these awards will be presented when they return for the 2022 Batavia meet next July.

Saturday is the final night of the meet and post time is at 5 p.m.

By Tim Bojarski, president, UNY-USHWA