The Friday (Nov. 2) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino Hotel, Batavia Downs and Vernon Downs.

MacDonald-Randall combination remains hot at Saratoga

Saratoga Springs, NY — The John MacDonald-Jay Randall combination has been red hot at Saratoga Casino Hotel and on Friday night, the combo went two-for-two.

Round The Beach was a 1:54.3 winner. Melissa Simser-Iovino photo.

MacDonald sent pacing fillies Round The Beach (Somebeachsomewhere) and Tatiana Seelster (Mach Three) to town and for the second consecutive Friday evening went two-for-two with that pair of lady pacers.

Round The Beach went coast to coast in a conditioned race that was contested for a purse of $8,000 to extend her win streak to five since being acquired by MacDonald in October. The heavily favored filly had little difficulty cruising to the score in 1:54.3 over a sloppy track at the Spa. The mile was the fastest of the night, roughly a second and a half faster than the evening’s feature for distaffers.

Tatiana Seelster also went wire-to-wire with Randall in the sulky as the 3-year-old overcame a monster move from a rival who nearly cleared the favored filly around the final turn before a late rally saw her draw clear before scoring in 1:56.3.

Tatiana Seelster, another recent addition to MacDonald’s barn, won for the fifth time in six starts since joining her new stable in September.

Live racing continues on Saturday night at Saratoga with a 6:45 p.m. first post.

— Mike Sardella

Batavia Downs
After getting the perfect trip, Southern Palms had just enough at the wire to win the $8,800 Open II Handicap trotting feature at Batavia Downs on Friday evening. The race played out quite simply: Barn Winner (Ray Fisher Jr.) went to the top and Southern Palms (Kevin Cummings) got the perfect pocket trip. After Fisher cut fractions of :28.1, :58.2 and 1:28.2, Barn Winner rounded the last turn looking like the probable victor. But Cummings brought Southern Palms out for the stretch drive and after steady urging, nipped Barn Winner at the wire by a head in 1:58.3. Southern Palms registered his seventh win of 2018 for owner Mike Torcello who has now been enriched the sum of $57,991 by his gelding’s performances this year. Western New York legend Gerry Sarama trains the winner.

Sarama and Torcello also sent forth the winner of the $8,500 co-featured trot. Theresnoway (Jim McNeight Jr.) got away seven lengths behind the leading Striker Ace (Drew Monti) before pulling first-over past the half and rallying down the stretch to win by a length and upset the field at 14-1. Theresnoway ($31.80) also got his seventh win of the year, breaking a long drought since his last score on Aug. 17.

Kevin Cummings led all drivers on Friday night winning three races on the card. Cummings is now in sole possession of the dash win lead for the current Batavia Downs meet, sporting 88 wins so far. Drew Monti is second with 85 wins and did not visit the Purple Haze winner’s circle at all on Friday. Racing resumes on Saturday night (Nov. 3) with post time set at 6 p.m.

Vernon Downs
Taco Tuesday (Leon Bailey) captured the $9,000 featured trot at Vernon Downs on Friday. Taco Tuesday ($3.30) charged right out to the lead, putting up all the fractions to win gate-to-wire (:27.1, :55.3, 1:24.2, 1:54.2). Pier Ho Exotic (Jimmy Whittemore) came up late to finish second. Kabu (John MacDonald) was third best. Taco Tuesday is a 5-year-old gelding by Cantab Hall. Owned by Vincent Laurenzo and trained by Don Hoover, he now has six wins on the season and 18 career victories.

Mydelight Blue Chip (Ben McNeil) used a late move to win the $7,500 featured fillies and mares pace. KJ’s Caroline (Jeff Long) went straight to the front and led the group to the first quarter in :28.3. Under The Bus (Truman Gale) took over at the top of the backstretch and led them to the half in :57.3 and three-quarters in 1:26.1. The big favorite Jaclyn Hanover (John MacDonald) took a short lead as they reached the top of the stretch. Love Live Laugh (Jimmy Whittemore) went three wide and took over in mid-stretch. Mydelight Bluechip ($20.20), who is owned by Ellen McNeil and trained by John McNeil III, came flying four wide to nip second place finisher Love Live Laugh in 1:55.1. Jaclyn Hanover settled for third. Mydelight Bluechip is a 6-year-old mare by Bettor’s Delight. It was her seventh win in 2018 and her 16th career trip to the winner’s circle.

Claude Huckabone III and Leon Bailey each had three driving wins on the night. Huckabone III finished first with Kolbee’s Star ($4.80), Heavenly War ($15.60), and Miss B ($29.80). Bailey got his other wins with Dry Creek Gin ($20.60) and Rockin Deo ($17.00).

With one day of racing left the driver’s win title is still undecided. Jimmy Whittemore has 115 driving wins and John MacDonald has 114 tallies. It won’t be decided until Saturday night. Saturday (Nov. 3) is closing night at Vernon Downs. The 12-race card features a War Horse race as well as two Turn Back the Clock races. There will be a drawstring bag giveaway (while supplies last) and a live bugler. Post time is 6:10 p.m. For more information go to www.vernondowns.com.