Fox Valley Veto found his way through the snow at Buffalo Raceway with relative ease on Saturday night in taking a two-length victory over Lenny Mac in the $9,500 Open Trot in 1:59.
In the sub-featured $9,000 pace, after three consecutive second-place finishes to open the 2018 campaign, Heaven Rocks (Drew Monti) finally found the winner’s circle by rallying late to tip Mach Stockn Barrel by a neck in 1:58.
The opener saw Fox Valley Veto (Billy Davis, Jr.) have a brief tussle with Kahoku to get to the lead in the opening quarter mile of action. But once he got there, it was a game of ‘catch me if you can’.
With fractions of 29.1, 1:01.1 and 1:30.1 over the ‘good’ track, Fox Valley Veto ($4.40) just had to turn back the modest stretch bid by Lenny Mac (Shawn Gray) and did so easily in notching the two-length win. Empire Earl N (Drew Monti) finished in third.
Co-owned by the Vogel & Wags Nags Stable and Jack Rice, Fox Valley Veto (Pizzazzed-Yankee Victory Om) is a seven-year-old gelding that is trained by Maria Rice. The victory pushed his seasonal earnings to $7,885 and $402,704 lifetime.
Heaven Rocks ($5.80) got the perfect trip in the sub-featured pace as he followed the tempo-setting Validus Deo until midway down the home stretch.
The splits of 30, 59 and 1:29 did in Validus Deo as Heaven Rocks, Mach Stockn Barrel and Hardts Or Bettor were ready, willing and able to battle it out in the lane.
Heaven Rocks was the quickest and managed to scramble through the passing lane to just get past Mach Stockn Barrel (Gray) in the shadow of the finish line. Hardts Of Bettor (David McNeight III) got the show position.
Owned by Tessa Roland and trained by JD Perrin, the six-year-old gelded Heaven Rocks (Rock N Roll Heaven-Cheerful Outlook) has put $11,278 in the bank this season and $139,151 in his career.
Driver Shawn Gray made five trips to the winner's circle, while Ray Fisher, Jr. had three winners. Trainer James Clouser, Jr. conditioned four winners on the card.
Racing will continue on Wednesday night with a 13-race program scheduled for 5 p.m.
(Buffalo Raceway)