Despite an adventurous trip through the first three quarters of a mile, Lyons Surfing ($14.80) stormed clear of the field in the stretch in Buffalo Raceway's $21,918 Open Pace on Saturday, July 19 in a 4-1/4-length victory.

After being interfered with briefly going around the opening turn, Lyons Surfing (Kyle Swift) had little choice but to be parked on the outside of leader Born A Rebel through fractions of :29.1, :58.4 and 1:27.1. Lyons Surfing remained hung out through three-quarters when Davey Day Trader moved three-wide, sandwiching him with Born A Rebel.

But when Lyons Surfing approached the top of the lane, he found another gear despite the overland journey and had a length lead off the turn. It was a wicked trip, but Lyons Surfing just kept on pulling away in a :28.3 final panel and stopped the timer in 1:55.4. Born A Rebel (Joseph Chindano Jr.) held the place position with Lip Reader A (Drew Monti) rallying for third.

Owned by the P T Stable of Brick, N.J. and trained by Gareth Dowse, the five-year-old gelded Lyons Surfing (Stay Hungry-Surfside Sexy) has now won eight times in 19 tries on the campaign. The victory pushed his 2025 earnings to $107,534 and his career bankroll to $418,533. He is 18-for-71 lifetime.

James McNeight Jr. completed the afternoon with three wins while Monti, Dave McNeight III, and Mike Whelan each had two scores. James Rothfuss bagged a pair of victories in the training column.

Before Saturday's program, Buffalo Raceway announced its award winners for the 2025 season.

Drew Monti was named Driver of the Meet as the 30-year-old won his first driving title at Buffalo Raceway since 2018. While finishing in the top five in several since then, Monti finally recaptured the top spot in the driver colony this season with 118 victories, topping Joe Chindano Jr. and Kevin Cummings. Since June 1, Monti really kicked it into high gear as he posted 50 wins to pull away from his nearest rivals. Hailing from Depew, N.Y., he has won at a 20.4 per cent clip on the season and was in the money 48.6 per cent of the time, amassing more than $1.3 million in purse earnings.

For the third year in a row, the Trainer Of The Meet was Samuel Smith. His first title at Buffalo Raceway came in 2023 as he collected 49 victories and followed that up in 2024 with 62 wins. He currently has 56 victories on the year with nearly $650,000 in purse earnings headed into the final weekend of action.

The Trotter Of The Meet went to the five-year-old gelding Big Baller Beane (Father Patrick-Global Desire).  He won three times in 13 starts at Buffalo, all against Open competition and many from outside posts. Co-owned by Kathy Schoeffel of Evans City, Pa., James Reuther of East Aurora, N.Y., and Roger Romesser of Arcade, N.Y., Big Baller Beane earned more than $100,000 on the year and finished on the board seven times at Buffalo. He also had a seasonal best of 1:56.3 for trainer Angelo Nappo.

Davey Day Trader (Huntsville-Gigi Deo) was selected as the Pacer Of The Meet. He posted a seasonal best of 1:53, racing mainly in the Open Paces. He won five times in 14 attempts on the season and finished in the money three other times. Davey Day Trader, who is conditioned by David McNeight Jr. and driven by David McNeight III, won more than $85,000. He is owned by James Costa of Clarence Center, N.Y., and Pete Kibler of West Seneca, N.Y.

The final program of the 2025 season is set for Sunday at noon with a nine-race program slated.

(With files from Buffalo Raceway)