No Where To Hide, Morrill big winners at Batavia

Batavia, NY — Former Tioga Downs regular No Where To Hide has now made herself right at home in Genesee County after she chalked up her first big win — the $13,500 fillies and mares Open I Handicap harness racing pace at Batavia Downs on Wednesday night (Oct. 20).

Drew Monti left with No Where To Hide and took almost a quarter of a mile to clear in :28 flat. After gaining the lead she then settled the group into a modest pace past the half where Follow Your Nose (Dave McNeight III) started an outer-flow that brought the heavily favored Protect Blue Chip into the conversation.

Rounding turn three the girls tightened up, but No Where To Hide was marching smartly on the point and put away those challengers with a :28.3 third quarter. As the race proceeded around the final bend the only mare left with a shot was the tripping Queen Of Thrones (Kevin Cummings) who made a momentary move to the outside at the top of the stretch. But that was a futile effort as No Where To Hide swelled up in the lane and won by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:55.

It was the first win in two Batavia starts for No Where To Hide ($10.40) who now has seven victories overall this year. The 4-year-old Bettor’s Delight-Albany Hanover mare is owned by Rocco Stebbins and trained by Joe Skowyra.

NO WHERE TO HIDE REPLAY

Monti won earlier in the card with Lillian Rose (1:56.1, $7.50) to end the day with a driving double.

Other horse people scoring two wins Wednesday were driver Denny Bucceri and trainers Jenifer Giuliani and Cory Kreiser.

But the big dog on the block once again was driver Jim Morrill Jr. who registered another grand slam, including a natural hat trick in races five, six and seven. He won with Labatt Hanover (1:59.3, $4.30), Silver Buckeye (1:59.3, $3.60), Innocent Victim (1:57.1, $4.30) who scored his fifth win in the last six starts and Fancy Colt (1:555.4, $3.30). In his nine starts on Wednesday, Morrill also had three seconds and a third to finish the night with a .666 UDR.

With no single unique winning ticket purchased in the Jackpot Pick-5 on Wednesday night (Oct. 20), there will be a carryover of $10,605 for that bet in race nine when live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 22). There is also a small but mentionable carryover of $195 in the Jackpot Pick-6 in race four.

Free full past performance programs for the entire card — that includes these races — can also be downloaded at bataviadownsgaming.com under the live racing tab, where they can be found for every live night of racing at Batavia Downs.

Post time for the first race Friday is 5 p.m.

For full race results, click here.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs