Batavia, NY — When Dear Abbey won the 12th race at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 4), it gave trainer Angelo Nappo the 1,000th win of his career.
Nappo has been involved in harness racing since 1976, when he got his first license at age 20, but he has been training full-time since the early 1990s. Now three decades later, the resident of Derby, N.Y., has definitely made his mark on the local racing scene.
To go along with his 1,000 wins, Nappo also has 1,191 seconds and 1,188 thirds from his 7,935 lifetime starts with purse earnings of $5,602,808 and a .259 UTR as of the end of the card Wednesday.
Nappo’s winningest years during his career were 2015 and 2016, when he posted 58 victories two consecutive times, and his most lucrative season was 2022, when he bankrolled $457,517. So far this year, Nappo has a total of 26 wins and $259,040 in purses for his efforts.
Dear Abbey ($5.50) paced in 1:56 for owner Super Mile, and was driven by Batavia Downs’ fast rising sulky star, driver Chase Russo, who captured his first career hat trick as a result of Nappo’s landmark win.
Russo, who just got his provisional license this summer, has already posted 13 wins, 13 seconds and 10 thirds from his 86 starts, giving him a respectable .274 UDR for those outings.
The featured race on Wednesday was the $13,500 fillies and mares AA-Open Handicap Pace, which saw Arizona go coast-to-coast as the heavy favorite.
Arizona (Brady Galliers) left from post 3 and settled on the point with little issue. While Wicked Beauty A (Ray FIsher Jr.) drafted in the pocket, Arizona stepped off measured fractions of :29, :58 and 1:26.1, with no pressure from behind. When the race spun off the last turn, Wicked Beauty A and Utopia Blue Chip (Dale Spence) started to close some ground on the leader, but Arizona cruised home a winner by three-quarters of a length in 1:55.
It was the 44th career win for the 7-year-old Arizona ($2.66), who is owned by Wendy Timpano and Herman Bardoel and trained by Mike Timpano.
Taylor Fritz was the leading conditioner for the night after sending three from her stable for win pictures during the proceedings.
Live racing at Batavia Downs will resume on Thursday (Nov. 5) at 5 p.m. There will be a $1,831 carryover in the Pick-5 wager, which begins in the first race, and a $29,875 carryover in the Jackpot Super High-5 in the 11th race.
Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia Downs can always be downloaded at the track’s website under the “Live Racing” tab.