from harness publicists across North America

Sunday’s (August 5) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Batavia Downs and Ocean Downs.

Duke Of Wellington rallies for Open Trot win

Batavia, NY — A sloppy track has been an unusual site this season on the Western New York harness scene, but the off going was just what Duke Of Wellington enjoyed Sunday afternoon as he rallied to win the $9,000 Open Trot at Batavia Downs.

Sitting fourth going up the backstretch the final time, driver Kevin Cummings pulled Duke Of Wellington ($17.00) and tipped three-wide around the far turn. It then became a calvary charge down the stretch as Duke Of Wellington won the battle while Serious George and Semper Fi each had late kicks to finish second and third respectively.

Duke Of Wellington, a 7-year-old trained by Don Rothfuss, won by a length in a time of 2:00.1.

It was the third victory of the season in 12 starts for Duke Of Wellington, who is owned by Howard Ouriel of Rochester, N.Y. The win pushed his seasonal earnings to $17,098.

Kevin Cummings had a four-bagger on the afternoon and moved into second place in wins in the driver’s standings with 13. Shawn Gray, who leads with 22, had a double as did John Cummings Jr. and Jim McNeight.

— Brian Mazurek

Ocean Downs
PW Rainbow had his first win of the year on Sunday night for Trevor Stafford who owns and trains the Western Terror gelding. The favorite, Derek Bromac N, driven by John Wagner, cut the mile. However, driver Jonathan Roberts pulled PW Rainbow at the three-quarter pole and came home to beat him at the wire in 1:57.1 in the first half of the daily double. Beirut N finished third for trainer John Vickers with Mark Gray in the bike. Roberts made it a daily double for himself as he drove Main Adieu Too at odds of 1-9 to a win in 1:54.4 for trainer Mike Hall. Real Ideal, driven by Ray “Shorty” Robinson, Jr., finished second and up for third was Gamblers Best Yet for trainer Wayne Givens and reinsman Jim Morand. Going for a hat trick was Jonathan Roberts, who also won the third race of the night driving Tuf Sun Beach to the winner’s circle for trainer Peter Snyder III. The feature race of the night went to Manhattan Rusty N, going wire-to-wire and giving Jonathan Roberts his fourth win of the night. The time of the mile was 1:52.1. Second place went to the pocket sitting Gone Nuclear for driver Jim Morand and trainer Roger Hans, while getting up for third was Fox Ridge Ryan for trainer Bruce Trader and driver Victor Kirby. Roberts went on to win five of the nine races on Sunday’s card.