Elegant Woman A handles sloppy conditions best

Batavia, NY — After not having seen an inside post since July 1, Elegant Woman A (Bettor’s Delight) took full advantage of her seldom seen pylon position and easily handled her harness racing peers in the $13,500 Open pace for fillies and mares at Batavia Downs on a rainy and sloppy Wednesday (Sept. 9) night. 

Rightfully Mine (Leon Bailey) shot right to the front, but Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) immediately left the pocket to take control before reaching the quarter in :27.3. Elegant Woman A was pacing on point as she made her way to the half, where Windsun Charlotte (Dave McNeight III) made a first-over move and got to within a length of the leader at the 1:25 third quarter.

As they made their way around turn four, Windsun Charlotte hung on as best she could, but Elegant Woman A had changed gears and was pacing away from the group. By the top of the stretch, Elegant Woman A had opened up a two length advantage and as she paced for home, was a wrapped-up winner in 1:55.1.

It was the fifth win of the year for the heavily bet, Elegant Woman A ($2.66), who went over $60,000 for the year for owners Vogel and Wags Nags, Jack Rice, Maria Rice (who also trains her), and her driver Drew Monti.

ELEGANT WOMEN A REPLAY

Elegant Woman A wasn’t the only horse taking advantage of pylon position on Wednesday, as six consecutive races (five through ten) were won by the number one. That included the two claiming/condition sub-features which went for $8,000 apiece.

The pace was won by Caviart Val (Ray Fisher Jr.) who tripped-out behind Solar Solution (Leon Bailey) and then closed late to win by one-quarter length in 1:55.3. Caviart Val ($14.90) is owned by Chelsea Prescott and trained by Luis Porfilio.

Then in the trot, My One Percent (Kyle Cummings) led at every station while incrementally extending his lead before crossing the wire ahead by 4-¼ lengths in 1:59. My One Percent ($3.18) is trained and owned by his driver, Kyle Cummings, in partnership with Matthew Miller.

Brett Macdonald was the big man in the bike on Wednesday as he posted a grand slam during the program. Macdonald won with Four finger Floyd (1:57, $17.88), Andrews Ideal (1:56.4, $50.56), Run Around John (1:57.2, $7.94) and Great Unknown (2:01.1, $4.30).

Dave Russo led all trainers after sending out two winners from his barn.

Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Sept. 12) at 5 p.m. and there will be a guaranteed pool of $3,000 (with a $538 carryover) in the Pick-5 wager in the first race, made possible through the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program. Free program pages for the Pick-5 races will be available at ustrotting.com under the “Handicapping” tab.

There will also be a $2,653 carryover in the Jackpot Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the 13th 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.

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

by Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs