Neither wind, rain, gloom of night nor five worthy competitors could keep BZ Glide from completing his appointed rounds as he once again won Friday’s $9,500 Open trotting feature at Batavia Downs.
After intermittent late-afternoon downpours provided a wet and tacky racing surface for the evening’s events, Vernon Downs invader Hold On Tightly (John Cummings, Jr.) found good footing off the gate and went right to the lead. He maintained that position unchallenged for the bulk of the mile, setting pedestrian off-track fractions of :30.1, 1:01.4 and 1:31.2 in the process. During those same fractions, BZ Glide (Mike Caprio) sat last, gapped two-lengths off, watching it all happen.
But six furlongs at the back of the bus was long enough. Into the final turn, Caprio pulled BZ Glide three-deep before fanning out four-wide at the top of the lane. The pair switched into overdrive, swooped the field and passed Hold On Tightly at the wire to win by a length in 2:01.4.
It was the seventh victory in 17 starts for BZ Glide ($3.60) and the winner’s share of the purse enhanced his 2015 financial situation to $50,570 for owner Caprio Stable LLC. Alana Caprio trains the six-year-old altered son of Yankee Glide.
On a night that went against recent trends, only one driver scored multiple wins on the card; John Cumming, Jr. had two. Other than that, 10 different drivers won the remaining 10 races and the Downs top two leading reinsmen, Kevin Cummings and Dave McNeight III, were blanked.
(Batavia Downs)