Dominance by a pair of horsemen was centre stage on the closing night card at Batavia Downs on Saturday, Dec. 9 as driver Kevin Cummings and trainer Sam Smith put forth a pair of relentless efforts that yielded some very lofty numbers.
Coming into the final night of the meet, Smith was tied with fellow trainer Shawn McDonough for the dash title of the summer and fall stanza and it didn’t take long to see that Smith was ready to serve notice. Smith sent five consecutive stable members to the winner’s enclosure to start the night and later added one more to grab a six-pack and claim the training title and the hardware.
Smith trainees won races one through five and included Pepin Coolie (1:57.1, $8.70), Ys Lotus (1:54.1, $3.10), Poets N Pirates (1:58.3, $5), Just Dont Wait (1:56.3, $13.20) and Blogmaster (1:56, $3.50). He then later won with Johnny Boy, who captured the co-featured $15,000 Open I Handicap Trot to get to six.
Johnny Boy left from post five and led every step of the race. After setting fractions of :28, :58.1 and 1:27 with no one close enough to challenge him, Johnny Boy turned for home and bolted to a 2-1/2-length win in 1:56.
It was the 10th win of the year for Johnny Boy ($4.50), who is owned by Mike Torcello, also the owner of Smith’s other five winners.
Smith also had one second from his nine starters to post a stellar .728 UTR for his work on Saturday.
Kevin Cummings drove three of Smith’s winners but also added five others to finish the night with a total of eight wins, which is just one shy of the track record of nine set by Jim Morrill Jr. only three weeks ago.
Besides the aforementioned Pepin Coolie, Poets N Pirates and Johnny Boy, Cummings also won with Remember The Beach (1:55.4, $35.20), Special Prosecutor (1:58, $6.80), McBardle (1:55.2, $2.60), Life Master (1:55, $3.90) and Stranger Things (pictured above), who won the co-featured $15,000 Open I Pace on the night he was named Pacer of the Meet for the second consecutive year.
Stranger Things got away fifth as Virgil N (Drew Monti) led to the half in :56.2. As they passed that station, Alta Engine A (Jim Morrill Jr.) pulled first-over and Stranger Things followed in stride. Virgil N succumbed to the pace at three-quarters allowing Alta Engine A to take the lead heading into the last turn. Stranger Things continued to pace alongside the leader and began to accelerate when they hit the stretch. Stranger Things gained ground with every stride and passed Alta Engine N by a length at the line in 1:53.
It was the third straight win and 10th of the year for Stranger Things ($4.60), who is owned by Kathy Schoeffel, Virginia Schoeffel and James Reuther, and trained by Angelo Nappo.
Cummings also had two seconds among his 15 starts to realize a stout .622 UDR for the night.
The management and staff of Batavia Downs would like to wish all their patrons a very happy holiday season and look forward to welcoming everybody back on Thursday, Jan. 4 when the 2024 winter meet kicks off its 16-date run through Monday, Feb. 26, pending New York State Gaming Commission date approval. Post time for every race day will be 3 p.m.
(Batavia Downs)