Batavia Downs hosted a round of New York Sire Stakes Wednesday, Aug. 5 and featured a field of eight two-year-old trotting colts and geldings competing for their share of the $155,211 purse. Bailey J proved once again that he is a force to be dealt with in this division on the strength of another impressive win.
Uncle Rob (Andy Miller) was four-wide around the first turn making his way to the lead ahead of Book It Armitage (Drew Monti) and Bailey J (Jason Bartlett) as they passed the quarter in :29.2. With the field now single file and following, Miller throttled down the half to :59.4 and continued to go unassailed around turn three and halfway up the backstretch. That’s where Bartlett finally tipped Bailey J and forged towards the leader.
Uncle Rob passed three-quarters in 1:29.4 as Bailey J continued to creep ever closer with every stride. After rounding the last bend, Bailey J went wide turning for home, but Bartlett reined him in and guided him to victory as he bolted home on top by three-quarters of a length over Uncle Rob in 1:58.3, featuring a :28.3 kicker. Book it Armitage finished third.
Bailey J ($2.98) is a son of Chapter Seven-Fade Into You owned by Ken Jacobs and trained by Noel Daley.
A pair of NYSS $28,169 Excelsior Series races were also contested Wednesday.
The first was won by Betelgeusebluechip (Crazy Wow-Tamgo Donato, 2:01.1, $3.40 Tyler Buter/Rob Harmon) who is owned by Go For Glory Stable, Robert Robinson, Billy Muggleston and Harmon Racing Stable.
The latter was won by Telling Tall Tales (Back Of The Neck-Scores To Settle, 2:02.1, $3.92 Tyler Buter/Rob Harmon) who is owned by Harmon Racing Stable, Billy Muggleston and Robert Robinson.
Later in the local featured $13,500 Open Handicap pace for fillies and mares, the heavily-backed Elegant Woman A captured her second straight top-class win at Batavia on the strength of a three-wide move and strong stretch finish.
Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) got away sixth as Gentrify (Brett Macdonald) parked Think Of Galaxies (Leon Bailey) through fractions of :28.1, :57.3 and 1:26.2. During that third quarter, Elegant Woman A was third-over in the outer flow behind Windsun Charlotte (Dave McNeight III) and the pair was forced to go three-deep around Think Of Galaxies, who was fading going into the last turn. Windsun Charlotte drew alongside Gentrify, but Elegant Woman A was still three-deep off the turn and heading into the stretch. But once they straightened for home, Elegant Woman A took control of the race and paced to the line on top by three-quarters of a length and won in 1:55.1.
It was the fourth win of the year for Elegant Woman A ($3.46), a six-year-old Bettors Delight-Versace Woman mare owned by Jack Rice, her trainer Maria Rice and her driver, Drew Monti.
Kevin Cummings had three driving wins while trainers Sam Smith and Rob Harmon scored two wins apiece during the night.
The $3,000 guaranteed pool in the Pick-5 wager on Wednesday paid big dividends as the winning combination of 2-6-5-4-3 returned $3,519.51 for the 50-cent wager.
Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Saturday, Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. and there will be a $3,435 carryover in the Jackpot Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the 13th race.
(With files from Batavia Downs)