Angelo Nappo reaches 1,000 training wins

Batavia, NY — When Dear Abbey won the 12th race at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 4), it gave harness racing trainer Angelo Nappo the 1,000th win of his career. 

Nappo has been involved in harness racing since 1976 when he got his first license at age 20, but he has been training full time since the early 1990’s. Now three decades later, the resident of Derby, New York has definitely made his mark on the local racing scene.

To go along with his 1,000 wins, Nappo also has 1,191 seconds and 1,188 thirds from his 7,935 lifetime starts with earnings of $5,602,808 and a .259 UTR as of the end of the card Thursday.

Nappo’s winningest years during his career were 2015 and 2016 when he posted 58 victories two consecutive times and his most lucrative season was 2022 when he bankrolled $457,517. So far this year, Nappo has a total of 26 wins and $259,040 in purse all-in for his efforts.

Dear Abbey ($5.50) paced in 1:56 for owner Super Mile, and was driven by Batavia Downs’ fast rising sulky star, driver Chase Russo, who captured his first career hat trick as a result of Nappo’s landmark win. Russo, who just got his provisional license this summer, has already posted 13 wins, 13 seconds and 10 thirds from his 86 starts, giving him a very respectable .274 UDR for those outings.

The feature race on Thursday was the $13,500 fillies and mares AA-Open Handicap pace that was won by Arizona, who went coast to coast as the heavy favorite.

Arizona (Brady Galliers) left from post three and settled on the point with little issue. While Wicked Beauty A (Ray FIsher Jr.) drafted in the pocket, Arizona stepped off measured fractions of :29, :58 and 1:26.1, with no pressure from behind. When the race spun off the last turn, Wicked Beauty A and Utopia Blue Chip (Dale Spence) started to close some ground on the leader, but Arizona cruised home a winner by three-quarters of a length in 1:55.

ARIZONA REPLAY

It was the 44th career win for the 7-year-old Arizona ($2.66), who is owned by Wendy Timpano and Herman Bardoel and trained by Mike Timpano.

Taylor Fritz was the leading conditioner for the night after sending three from her stable for win pictures during the proceedings.

Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Nov. 5) at 5:00 p.m. and there will be a $1,831 carryover in the Pick Five wager in the first race and a $29,875 carryover in the Jackpot Super High Five pentafecta wager in the 11th race.

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia Downs can always be downloaded at the track’s website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. And you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.

Batavia, NY — After no one hit the Pick Five at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 4), there is a $1,831 carryover pool for that wager in the first race on Thursday (Nov. 5) and the management of Batavia Downs has announced that the pool will be guaranteed at $5,000 through the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering program. As part of that program, Trackmaster will provide free full past performance program pages that can be downloaded (when they become available) at handicapping.ustrotting.com.

The Pick Five at Batavia Downs is a 50-cent minimum wager that starts in race one and runs through race five.

There is also another opportunity to win big at The Downs on Thursday with a huge carryover of $29,875 in the Jackpot Super High Five pentafecta in the 11^th race, which has a 20-cent minimum wager.

Post time for the first race on Thursday is at 5 p.m.

Free full card past performance programs for every live race at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. And all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free via the Batavia Downs Live Stream on YouTube. 

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs