Dont Say Goodby said 'hello' to the winner's circle once again after registering a three-quarters of a length victory over Stonebridge Rocket in the $10,500 Open Pace at a blustery Buffalo Raceway Saturday night (Jan. 25) in 1:59.1 over the 'good' track.
The victory was the fourth straight in Open competition in Western New York for Dont Say Goodby ($3.30) since arriving from Indiana in late November.
The start was delayed by nearly 45 minutes after a power failure occurred during the stretch run of the seventh race. The wait didn't have any affect on Dont Say Goodby (Peter Wrenn) though as he had plenty of energy in the passing lane to run down Stonebridge Rocket (Shawn McDonough). Sand Summerfield (Dan Rawlings), who went on a brief break around the opening turn, regrouped and had the lead at one point, but had to settle for third-place.
The win was the second in as many starts in 2014 for the six-year-old Dont Say Goodby (Dontgetinmyway-Good By Albatross). The victory was his 15th lifetime and jacked his career earnings to $176,277.
Saturday night's card completed a stellar week in the handle department at Buffalo Raceway. The track took in well over $900,000 during the four-day race week.
"We haven't seen a handle like this week in Western New York in over 10 years," said Chief Operating Officer Jim Mango. "There were three reasons for the big handles I believe. There were some cancellations during the week at other tracks, we have some good drivers here competing and we've had some well-balanced and wide open fields, which leads to increased handles."
Buffalo Raceway will continue racing on Wednesday night with a 12-race program set to get underway at 5 p.m.
(Buffalo Raceway)