from harness publicists across North America

The Saturday (July 14) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Buffalo Raceway and Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Windsong Leo gets fourth straight in Meadows $18,000 pace

Washington, PA — In his first start at The Meadows, Windsong Leo extended his winning streak to four with a front-end, 1:50.3 victory in Saturday’s $18,000 Preferred Handicap Pace.

Chris Gooden photo

Windsong Leo was a 1:50.3 winner in the $18,000 Preferred Handicap Pace.

When Ronnie Wrenn Jr. gave Windsong Leo a comfortable :56 opening half, the 6-year-old Jereme’s Jet-Windsong Goldie gelding had plenty left in the tank. Born Of Fire launched a gallant first-over bid that fell a length short while Phoenix Warrior N rallied for show.

Windsong Leo soared over $300,000 in career earnings, a career that includes wins at 11 different pari-mutuel tracks: Charlottetown, Flamboro Downs, Freehold, Georgian Downs, Grand River, Meadowlands, Meadows, Mohawk, Western Fair, Woodbine, and Yonkers.

Ron Burke trains Windsong Leo for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Phillip Collura.

Jim Pantaleano and Wrenn each collected three wins on the 13-race card.

Live racing at The Meadows resumes Monday, when the program features a $160,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series stake for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters. First post is 1:05 p.m.

— Evan Pattak

Buffalo Raceway

Now they are even. After Classic American N ($3.90) suffered a heart breaking nose setback last week to Western Conquest in Buffalo Raceway’s $11,500 Open Pace, he returned the favor on Saturday night (July 14) by pinning a demoralizing head loss on the hard charging Western Conquest in 1:56.0. For the second consecutive week, the Open Pace was reduced to four entrants with Best Ears and Sir Ziggy’s Z Tam both scratched due to illness. So that left a quartet to battle it out over the good track. This time around, Classic American N got the upper hand early and set the tempo as Western Conquest had to give chase. With fractions of :28.4, :58.0 and 1:27.2, it ended up being a repeat of last Saturday’s race between the two. In the lane, Classic American N (Billy Davis Jr.) managed to stay in front as Western Conquest made a late surge but ran out of real estate. Focus Power (Drew Monti) took the show position. Co-owned by the Nick Surick Stable LLC and the J L Benson Stables, Inc. and trained by Sabrina Clevenger, it was the fourth win in 21 starts for Classic American N (American Ideal-Classic Vicolo). The victory increased his seasonal bankroll to $32,270 and $271,455 in his career. Ray Fisher Jr. had four trips to the winner’s circle with Davis Jr. getting three and Monti a pair. Trainer Russell Bratt had three victories. Buffalo Raceway will start its final week of racing this year on Wednesday at 5 p.m. with a 10-race program slated. It will be the last appearance in 2018 for the New York Sire Stakes at the Hamburg half-mile oval with the 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers in action. For more information including the latest news, upcoming promotions, simulcast schedule, race replays, results and entries, go to www.buffaloraceway.com.

Saratoga Casino Hotel

Starznheaven was the 2-year-old Pacer of the Year at Saratoga back in 2014 when he had a strong first season. Fast forward to 2018 and the now 6-year-old is a formidable Open pacer. After moving to the Jim Nickerson stable last month, Starznheaven (Rock N Roll Heaven) has simply become a monster. With wins against top flight competition at Plainridge, Tioga and Scarborough in recent weeks, Starznheaven was riding a five-race win streak when he started from post four in Saturday’s $14,500 Open Pace at Saratoga Casino Hotel. With fractions of :26.4 and :55.2 being set in the first half, Starznheaven moved first-over approaching the half and powered past the leader heading to three quarters. Jimmy Devaux stayed after the rejuvenated pacer who dug-in in the stretch even when confronted by major danger Somewhere Fancy (Billy Dobson). Starznheaven toughed it out to prevail in 1:51.1 to record his sixth consecutive victory. Somewhere Fancy was the runner-up while Somewhere In L A (Mark Beckwith) came from last to finish third. Starznheaven pulled off the upset while dismissed at odds of 8-1. Paying $19.60 to win, Starznheaven started an exacta and triple that returned $58 and $223.50, respectively. The Open score was one of five winners on the night for reinsman Jimmy Devaux. Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon with a matinee starting at 12:15 p.m.