American Tour N made her 50th career win a standout performance as the 12-year-old mare reached the milestone with a five-length victory in a $5,000 conditioned pace for fillies and mares on Monday, Sept. 7 at Batavia Downs.

The mare had a loose lead coming off the first turn after pushing out from post two, then consolidated control with a give-and-go around Hope You Dance (Brett MacDonald) past a :27.4 quarter. She rolled through middle splits of :57.3 and 1:26.4 and marched through the final quarter to pull clear in a 1:57.2 victory. Hope You Dance (Brett MacDonald) finished second, followed by Fox Valley Tatum (Kyle Cummings).

American Tour N recorded her 50th win in her 256th start while upping her earnings to $475,212. Candace Brandstatter-Hall owns and trains the daughter of American Ideal-Armainapocket N, who is two-for-20 this season. The win payout was $9.36.

Driver Shawn Gray won five races during the afternoon, including a walk-off grand slam in the final four races on the 11-dash program. Gray won with Day To Party (1:55.1, $2.50), Giveitatry A (1:56, $3.62), Missys Magic Man (1:59.3, $2.38), Job Hunter (1:53.4, $5.24) and Cold Road Soda (1:57, $4.88), all whom went off as post-time favourites. Gray also registered a second and three thirds from his 11 starts, giving him a .596 UDR for the day. 

Machs Legacy A made easy work of the $11,111 conditioned Labor Day feature as she went gate-to-wire to post her third straight win. Drew Monti pushed Machs Legacy A off the gate for the lead, and the mare stepped to the quarter in :29.1 and half in :58.4, with Mcvera (Gray) in the pocket and no challengers from behind. Tres Chic Bluechip (Kyle Cummings) moved first-over and advanced to second as the tempo picked up to three-quarters in 1:28. Tres Chic Bluechip’s bid lasted around the far turn and into the stretch, where Machs Legacy A exerted her dominance and paced away to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:55.1. Mcvera held second over Lady Blue Jay (John Cummings Jr.).

The win was the fifth win overall this year in 28 starts for Machs Legacy A ($2.64), who is owned by Tina Adamczyk and trained by Chris Petrelli. She is 21-for-146 lifetime with $312,604 in earnings.

A Batavia Downs tradition that goes back to 1977 is the annual Labor Day bicycle race and giveaway, in wich local drivers and trainers mount bicycles and dash down the stretch to claim bragging rights, while eight lucky racing fans win the bikes used in the race. 

On Sunday, 49 years after the first group lined up behind the gate, a full field of eight — Candace Brandstatter-Hall, Brett MacDonald, Chase Russo, David Russo, Drew Monti, Jim McNeight Jr., Gareth Dowse and Kyle Cummings — put on another great race for the crowd. The 2026 winner was David Russo, who left from post eight and broke away from the pack halfway down the lane for an easy win. Russo, after his first start in the event, indicated that “It was one and done” and he would be retiring undefeated. 

The Batavia driver/trainer bicycle race is sponsored by Lawley Insurance, Wendy J. Photography and Ortiz Home Services. 

Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Wednesday at the regular post time of 5 p.m. There will be a $2,139 carryover in the Jackpot Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the 11th race. 

(Standardbred Canada & Batavia Downs; photo of American Tour N winning on April 11, 2023)