How do you top a five-win night? Simple; win six! That’s exactly the kind of weekend Batavia Downs dash driving leader Kevin Cummings had.
After winning five races on Friday, Cummings took six of the 12 races on the card Saturday night, including the last five straight races. And he finished second twice and third three times besides. In fact, he was only off the board once all night. That performance translated into a .676 UDR for the night.
Cummings took pictures with Lucky Nadotremblay ($2.80), B Evas Lucky Lad ($5.50), In The Clear ($7.20), Camstar ($10,20), Noble Legend ($7.50)and Precise Accusation ($18.00).
As a result of his two-day winning spree, Cummings now has 115 victories for the meet and that puts him 39 ahead of his nearest competitor. For 2015, Cummings has registered 318 wins and $1.7 million in earnings. That win total is only 16 shy of his career-best, which was set last year.
In the $10,000 Open Pace feature at the Downs, a two-horse duel resulted in Adversary Seelster being the best among seven of the best resident pacers.
Jokerman (Jim McNeight) left fast to take control of the front, but Adversary Seelster (Ron Beback Jr.) came out early to overtake him by the quarter. Positions remained the same until Youwillwishyouhad (Kevin Cummings) pulled at the half and charged hard at the leader. Cummings pushed the pace to three-quarters, gaining a slight advantage on the outside at that point. But after Beback popped the plugs on Adversary Seelster, the gelding found another gear and responded in kind. He put away Youwillwishyouhad and then fended off a late challenge by Jokerman before hitting the wire first in 1:55.2.
The win was the fourth of the year for Adversary Seelster, and the winning time was a seasonal mark for him. The winner’s share of the purse pushed his 2015 earnings to $40,766 for owners Keith Pinkowski and Curtis Edholm. Adversary Seelster is trained by the currently red-hot, Mihajlo Zdjelar Jr.
Jim McNeight and Ron Beback Jr. both had driving doubles while conditioner Alex Giuliani sent three of his trainees to the winner’s circle.
(Batavia Downs)