by Tim Bojarski, Batavia Downs Media Relations

Batavia, NY — Without even a moment of doubt inthe mile, Exotic Beach overpowered her five rivals to jog home with authorityin the $9,500 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap pace at Batavia Downs onWednesday afternoon (Oct. 18).

Paul White photo

Exotic Beach overpowered her five rivals and jogged home in the $9,500 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap pace at Batavia Downs on Wednesday afternoon.

Exotic Beach (Larry Stalbaum) tucked in third offthe gate while Squeeze This (Billy Davis Jr.) settled on the lead. But that wasjust a ruse by Stalbaum as he pulled Exotic Beach halfway up the backstretchand gunned her to the front in :27 flat. After clearing, Stalbaum grabbed someleather just to let the five trailers think they were in the race. But itbecame obvious that wasn’t the case once they hit the second stanza.

Exotic Beach opened up a gapped three-length leadand that was as close as the rest would get for the rest of the race. Shecruised to three-quarters in 1:24, rounded the turn in full stride and pacedaway down the stretch to win by four in 1:53.3.

The time was a new seasonal mark for Exotic Beachand only three-fifths of a second off the track record for aged pacing mares.

It was the sixth win of the year for Exotic Beach($4.30) who has now earned $52,266 for owner Larry Stalbaum, who also does thetraining.

Owner/trainer/driver Stalbaum similarly won theco-featured $8,000 Fillies and Mares Open II pace when he went from last at thehalf to three-deep at three-quarters to a half-length victor in 1:55, which wasa new seasonal mark for the winner. Kaitlyn Rae ($5.80) won her ninth race in18 starts this year giving her $36,594 in the bank account.

The top three dash drivers of the meet had a verybusiness night on Wednesday. Larry Stalbaum had four winners, Ray fisher Jr.three and Drew Monti two. As a result there has been movement at the top of theleader board. Larry Stalbaum who was behind in double digits only a week ago isnow in a first place tie with former leader Drew Monti with 79 wins apiece. RayFisher Jr. is a close third with 75. With nine weeks left in the meet, this isgoing to be a tight three-way competition for the rest of the year.

Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 20) withpost time at 6 p.m.