Shady City stuck to script with a strong come-from-behind effort to win the $9,500 Open pacing feature at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (December 17).
Foreign Officer (Shawn Gray) shot out for the lead quickly and gained that position without any opposition. Once there, he led the group in single-file to the half in :57.2. When the race advanced past five-eighths, Shady City (Larry Stalbaum) pulled first-up and brought Warrawee Qually (Kevin Cummings) with him as they proceeded to advance toward the leader.
Those positions remained unchanged around the far turn, but at the head of the stretch, Shady City put on another of his furious closing brushes. He went by the fading Foreign Officer, as well as Western Expression (Mike Whelan), who had tripped-out and snuck up the rail, to win by a head in 1:54.4.
The win was the sixth of the year for Shady City ($4.10), who has now earned $68,332 for 2016. The six-year-old gelded son of Metropolitan is owned by his driver, Larry Stalbaum, and is trained by Kim Asher.
In the $9,000 co-featured Open II Pace, Rock The Dream (Ray Fisher Jr.) came from last at the half to go three-wide at three-quarters and win a narrow decision over Private Equity (Todd Cummings) in 1:55.1. The win was the fourth in five starts for Rock The Dream ($7.90), who is owned by Tessa Roland and trained by the Downs leading trainer, JD Perrin.
Ray Fisher Jr. had a driving grand slam while Larry Stalbaum got the hat trick and Shawn Gray doubled up. Trainer Kim Asher also had three wins on the night followed by JD Perrin with two.
As the 2016 meet came to a close, the leading driver and trainer were welcomed in front of the grandstand and presented with their winning hardware. Drew Monti was the leading dash driver with 116 wins and trainer JD Perrin was the top conditioner for the third straight year at the Batavia summer/fall meet with 47 wins.
(With files from Batavia Downs)