Batavia, NY — Rightfully Mine was in the perfect position to pounce and did just that to win the $13,500 Open pace for fillies and mares at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Aug. 6) evening.
The short six-horse field was scratched down to five, and then saw post time favorite Forgot Thewallet A (Joe Chindano Jr.) break behind the gate. That left four to fight going into the first turn and Mary Kat (Dave McNeight III) and Downtown Tonight (Jim McNeight Jr.) did argue for the lead before the latter took control shortly past the :27.4 quarter. The field stayed single-file to the half in :57.1 before turning onto the backstretch for the second circuit, where Drew Monti tipped Rightfully Mine from third, first-over in the breeze.
Rightfully Mine paced up to Downtown Tonight and engaged her step for step around the last turn. As the pair paced into the stretch, Rightfully Mine gained separation and bolted home under mild urging while holding off the fast-closing Alabama Hannah (Jim Morrill Jr.) to win in 1:55.2, matching her seasonal mark.
It was the 20th lifetime win for Rightfully Mine ($25.60) who is owned by Monique Cohen and trained by Chris Petrelli.
Earlier in the $11,700 mid-level conditioned pace for female participants, Delta Three N (Jim Morrill Jr.) put in a very impressive performance after taking the lead and putting up fractions of :27.4, :56.1 and 1:24.4. Then after rounding the last turn, Delta Three N dashed for home on top by two and stopped the timer in 1:53.4, which was only one-fifth of her lifetime mark.
It was the eighth win of the year for Delta Three N ($3.50) who is owned by Stephen Picarazzi and her trainer, Brett Derue.
Jim Morrill Jr. ended the night as the driving leader after scoring a grand slam in the bike while trainers Brett Derue, Shawn McDonogh and Luis Porfilio all had two wins apiece.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Aug. 7) with post time at 6 p.m. and there will be a guaranteed pool of $2,500 in the Pick-5 wager in race one. This is in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association’s Strategic Wagering program, so free program pages will be provided by Trackmaster on the USTA’s website (ustrotting.com) under the handicapping tab. 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 and all the racing action can be viewed as it happens for free at the Batavia Downs Live Stream on YouTube.