A $23,931 USD carryover and $75,000 USD guaranteed pool through the USTA Strategic Wagering Program for the Pick-5 wager at Batavia Downs on Wednesday night, Nov. 13 generated $79,508 USD new money, producing a $102,701 USD total pool that yielded the biggest mutuel payout ever in the history of Batavia Downs going all the way back to 1940.
After the prohibitive favourite, Raylan Drew ($3.10) won the first race, the longshots followed fast and furious. La Always Amartini ($15.20), Mason Street ($68.50), Batting Stats ($9.60) and Venue ($22.20) filled out the winning combination of 2-5-4-4-1 that returned $41,412 USD for a 50-cent wager.
Even after "price" horses won three of the first four races, the savvy punters who wager at Batavia Downs had all but two numbers covered in the fifth race, with a total of two winning tickets being sold.
The feature race on Wednesday came right after the huge payout in the fifth race, where Won Surreal Deal (Drew Monti) won the $15,278 fillies and mares feature and continued the string of premium payouts.
Monti put Won Surreal Deal on the point and led by 1-1/4 lengths through splits of :28.3, :58.1 and 1:26.4 while the favoured Mcvera (Shawn McDonough) tracked from the pocket. After spinning off the final bend, Won Surreal Deal was not to be caught and pulled away to a 1-1/2-length margin of victory in 1:54.3 with a snappy :27.4 final panel.
The triumph was the second win in the last three starts and seventh win of the year for Won Surreal Deal ($13.80), who is owned by Parsimonious Racing Stable and trained by Jeff Sorenson.
Live harness racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday, Nov. 15 with post time at 6 p.m.
(Batavia Downs)