“Wild Bill” tames trotters in Tuesday topper

Batavia, NY — Snow flurries and minus-15 wind chills set the stage for those racing at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (Jan. 27) afternoon as winter continued to make its presence known. But it was business as usual on the track with a large number of very close finishes during the harness racing program.

However one race that wasn’t close at all was the featured $7,500 Class-B trot where Wild Bill Kelso made quick and easy work of an already short field, that was abbreviated even further due to a scratch and a break.

Wild Bill Kelso (Brett Beckwith) flew off the wings to the front and commanded the race at every station. Maintaining at least a two length lead throughout the event, Wild Bill Kelso cut quarters of :29.3, 1:00 and 1:29.3 before rounding the last bend and bolting to the line 3-1/4 lengths in front of a field that had no answers in 2:00.1.

It was the third win in the last five starts for the heavily backed Wild Bill Kelso ($2.62), who is owned by El Dorado Stables and Mike Torcello and trained by Sam Smith.

Wild Bill Kelso was only one of three wins for Brett Beckwith, who is currently the leading dash driver at both Batavia Downs and The Meadowlands, and the third winningest driver among all currently competing in North America. Beckwith also won with Century Grizzly (2:00.2, $7.60) and the aptly named Twentysevenbelow (2:04.1, $5.28).

WILD BILL KELSO REPLAY

Despite the stellar outing, Beckwith wasn’t the leading man on Tuesday. That honor went to Jim McNeight Jr. who posted a grand slam on the card that included a natural hat trick in races five, six and seven.

McNeight Jr. won with Echo De Meautis Fr (2:03.4, $9.44), Memphistennessee N (2:01.3, $6.12), Vondell Kemp (2:03.3, $3.10) and Albright (2:01, $6.12).

Chris Petrelli was the leading trainer on Tuesday with two wins for his efforts.

With no winner of the Pick Five again on Tuesday, there is a sizeable carryover of $2,201, and that has prompted the management of Batavia Downs to announce there will be a guaranteed pool of $7,500 for that wager in the first race on Thursday, when live racing reconvenes at The Downs. The guarantee is made in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering Program and with that, Trackmaster will provide free downloadable programs (once available) on the USTA website (ustrotting.com) under the Handicapping tab.

Post time for the first race at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Jan. 29) is 1:00 p.m.

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. Then 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