Victories have been coming in bunches for this track's top drivers of late and Saturday night was no exception. Not to be outdone by Drew Monti’s five-victory outing on Friday (July 31), Batavia Downs defending dash driving champion Kevin Cummings struck back fast and hard tonight taking a six-pack to the winner's circle.
Cummings came out swinging, winning with Vintage Fenom ($4.90), Terlingua ($5.40), Youwillwishyouhad ($3.30), Cobble Beach ($2.70), Bettor Again ($4.10) and Southwind Whiski ($3.70).
After having two doubles and a triple in the first three days of the meet, Cummings now has 13 victories at Batavia Downs and leads all drivers for wins to date. He also sports a gaudy .438 UDR over the same period of time.
At this point of the year, Cummings is on pace to shatter his career high numbers that he just set last year. He already has 215 wins and $1,151,609 in purses and a 2015 UDR of .374 that ranks him seventh overall in North America. For his career, Cummings has 3,185 wins and over $13 million in earnings.
Cummings' fourth score just happened to be behind the winner of the featured $10,000 Open Pace, Cobble Beach.
Mr Icon (Jim McNeight) left with a rush from post three to take the early lead. But 1-4 post time favourite, Cobble Beach, became king of the hill before they hit the quarter in :27.4. The group continued in single file when Jokerman (Dave McNeight III) started the outer flow just before they hit the half in :57.1. Jokerman continued to advance until he got within a half-length of the leader, who rang up a 1:25.3 third panel. But a half-length was as close as he got as Cobble Beach turned up the heat in the final two furlongs with a :28.3 clocking to win by a length in 1:54.1. Mr Icon, who benefitted from a perfect trip, caught second and Jokerman hung on for third.
The win was the fifth win in 26 starts for Cobble Beach and it inflated his 2015 wallet to $46,810 for owner/trainer James Clouser Jr. The winner returned $2.70.
Other notable performances by horsemen competing tonight: Drivers Dave McNeight Jr. and Ray fisher Jr. both had driving doubles and trainers John Mungillo, Gerry Sarama, James Clouser Jr. and Russell Bratt each registered two wins apiece.
Betting and attendance have been up significantly after the first four cards of racing at Batavia Downs. Handle is up seven percent and the clubhouse has been sold out all week along with every available program. The beautiful weather in the area has also had the apron full of race-goers each night. It’s the best opening week the track has seen in years. The management would like to thank all their loyal customers who have made the opening such a success and promise to keep the excitement going as we move through the year.
Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Sunday (Aug. 2) with three divisions of the New York Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies going for $119,000 in purses. Post time for the first is 1:15 p.m.
(Batavia Downs)