Batavia, NY — After coming up just short in his local debut last week, Spicy Hops rebounded with a big win in the $11,000 featured trot at Batavia Downs on Friday (Sept. 5).
The heavily favored Crazy Ritz (Jim McNeight Jr.) made a break behind the gate before Spicy Hops (Dave McNeight III) and Latavius (Jim Morrill Jr.) traded leads going to the quarter. Spicy Hops finally took the front for good after Latavius pocketed up, and he led the field to a soft half of :59.3. It was there that Double Class (Drew Monti) pulled first-over and pressed the leader up the backstretch and around turn four, where Double Class started to wane. But as Spicy Hops entered the stretch, Latavius came to life in the passing lane and matched strides with Spicy Hops all the way to the wire. However, Spicy Hops never relented and hung on to victory by a nose in 1:58.3.
It was the fifth win in the last seven starts for Spicy Hops ($26.68), who is owned by Gary Ballowe and his trainer, Cassie Russo.
Drivers Joe Chindano Jr., Kevin Cummings, Dave McNeight III and Jim Morrill Jr. all had hat tricks on Friday. Chindano also won two as a trainer, as did Maria Rice.
There was a big payout in the Pick-5 wager on Friday. The combination of 5/4/2/4,5/6 returned $4,902.18 for the 50-cent wager.
Live racing at Batavia Downs resumes on Saturday (Sept. 6) with post time at 6 p.m. The card will feature the New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions finals with purses valued at $2.4 million.
There will be two guaranteed pools at Batavia on Saturday. Both Pick-4 pools (beginning in races three and seven) will be guaranteed at $7,500 each in conjunction with the USTA’s Strategic Wagering Program. As such, free full past performance program pages will be available to download at handicapping.ustrotting.com.
And, as always, free full-card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at the Batavia Downs website under the “Live Racing” tab. Then, you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.