Hamburg, NY — Confident ($9.62) was just that, confident, in the stretch drive on a rain drenched Friday afternoon (March 20) at Buffalo Raceway as he was able to scratch out a nose victory over Munk in the featured $12,000 Trot in 2:00.4 over the sloppy track.
Chapter Twelve took command in the early going, notching splits of :30.1 and 1:00.4 to the half. But he called it a day midway down the back stretch as the closers began to make their moves.
Celtic’s Whitesox (Kyle Cummings) was first over with Munk following his cover in hitting the three-quarter marker in 1:30.3. Confident (Drew Monti) in the meantime rolled widest of all heading down the lane and squared off with the sandwiched Munk and lightning lane riding Celtic’s Whitesox. It was a ding dong battle to the finish line with Confident nudging ahead in the final strides while Munk had to settle for a hard-fought second place finish and Celtic’s Whitesox third.
Owned by Kevin and Shannon Rowe, the 4-year-old Confident (Tactical Landing-Anikadabra) found the winner’s circle for the first time this year in two attempts. The victory jumped the Ferris Hazlett trainee’s earnings to $6,000 in 2026 and to $52,901 in his brief career.
Brett MacDonald and Monti each had three driving victories on the program with David McNeight III collecting two. Courtney Wright had three consecutive scores with wins in races six, seven and eight to lead the conditioners.
Racing will return on Saturday afternoon (March 21) at 2:30 p.m. with an 11-race program set. The card will feature the $15,500 Open Pace and $15,500 Open Trot which will go off as the seventh and ninth races respectively. There’s a $1,330 carryover in the Pick 5 which begins in the second race.
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