In what has become a fairly regular event, a ship-in mare circled the locals in the top distaff race at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Sept. 10) night. Its A Miracle ($3.40), with Drew Monti aboard, proved to be the best mare on the grounds this week despite having to take the overland route in a pelting rain.

As the starter released the mares for the seventh race feature, last week’s winner Shes A Maniac (Jim McNeight) flew to the front and led the field in post position order behind her to the quarter in :28.1. Halfway through the turn, Monti pulled Its A Miracle and flushed Dontch Remember (Shawn McDonough) for live cover as they motored to the half in :57.4.

The field got small as they were three in and three out at the three-quarters in 1:26.2 when Monti yanked the right line and tipped the four-year-old Always A Virgin mare three-high. Around the last turn it was Shes A Maniac at the pylons with Dontch Remember outside of her and Its A Miracle outside of her. When they straightened out, Kevin Cummings swung notorious closer Bazooka Terror four-deep around the pack and chased Its A Miracle all the way down the stretch. But their effort was to no avail as Monti basically line-drove his mare to the wire, victorious in 1:55.3. Bazooka Terror was second and Dontch Remember was third.

This was the fifth win in 28 starts for Its A Miracle, boosting her annual earnings to $94,450 for owners Blindswitch Racing Stable, Santo Farina, David Sebolsky and Stanley Yaskowitz. Its A Miracle is trained by Jose Godinez.

The Monti/Godinez team also captured the co-featured mares Open II with Ontario-sired Cooking The Books ($7.10) in a similar off-the-pace fashion, winning by two lengths in 1:55.

Downs driving domineer Kevin Cummings scored another grand slam on Wednesday night, giving him 68 wins for the meet and 242 for the year. Cummings is the 10th leading UDR driver in North America with a .355 mark.

(With files from Batavia Downs)