Beechwood Wayne turned the tables on Fireyourguns and won the featured $8,500 Open Pace on Saturday night (Oct. 12) at Batavia Downs.
Fireyourguns (Mike Caprio), usually a closer, changed tactics and went to the front end from the seven-hole. He set the fractions of :27.3, :57 and 1:25.3 as OK Braveheart (Ken Holliday) and Beechwood Wayne (Ron Beback Jr.) drafted behind in second and third-place respectively.
Midway down the stretch, Beechwood Wayne gave the front-running Fireyourguns a taste of his own medicine and rallied in the passing lane for the length victory in 1:54.3 over a track labeled fast. OK Braveheart held on for third.
Despite being at the top of his game, Beechwood Wayne (Western Terror-Sanskrit Hanover) was overlooked by the betting public and returned $16.40 for the victory.
The win was his third in a row and ninth of the season, pushing his seasonal earnings to $58,656 and lifetime bankroll to $156,434. Beechwood Wayne is owned by Mark Jakubik and trained by J.D. Perrin.
The final matinee card of the season takes place this Monday (Columbus Day) when a 12-race program gets underway at 1:15 p.m. The 'Christopher Columbus Pace' returns and will go off as the sixth race. All drivers in the event are of Italian descent.
There will also be $1 Sahlen's hot dogs, sodas and draft beer in the Paddock Room while in the clubhouse patrons can purchase a buffet for $9.95 to receive $10 in free play after earning one point on the VLT machines in the new gaming floor.
(With files from Batavia Downs)