by Todd Haight, for Batavia Downs

Batavia, NY — Drawing post position eight and having to take the overland route sometimes isn’t so bad. Just ask 2007 Kane Memorial winner Slickest Hanover.

Batavia Downs Gaming held the fifth annual Robert J. Kane Memorial Pace, with a purse of $30,000, on Saturday night, October 6. The race is named in honor of the former Chairman of the Board of Western Regional Off-Track Betting, the owner of Batavia Downs.

President and CEO of Western OTB/Batavia Downs Gaming, Martin C. Basinait, was in the winner’s circle making a special presentation to the Kane family.

Paul White photo

Slickest Hanover rallied in the lane to win the Kane Pace.

Eight top class pacers, with combined lifetime earnings of over $2 million, took up their positions in race seven, the annual Kane Pace.

On paper the early pace figured to be a lively one and that’s exactly what happened. Four horses fired out of the gate, but only two of them would ever get close to the pylons.

Our First Falcon N, with Ron Cushing, powered to the top, reaching the lead at the quarter-mile marker in a quick :27.1, racing over a track labeled as ‘good’ but that had deteriorated as the night went on.

Parked on the outside was Michael Scores, the 2006 Kane winner and current all-age “Downs” track record holder, with regular driver Kevin Cummings.

Reaching the half in :55.3 there were four in and four out. Eventual winner Slickest Hanover (Jim Morrill, Jr.) was third-over, following the cover of Gimmebackmybullets (Keith Kash, Jr.), who like “Michael,” was parked out the entire mile.

Reaching three-quarters in 1:25, Our First Falcon N began to open up on the field with Slickest Hanover now four-wide and beginning to gain ground.

Turning for home, “Falcon” was holding a tenuous lead as Slickest Hanover clearly had all the momentum and paced right on by the leader to win going away by 1-1/2 lengths, in 1:54.1. Our First Falcon N finished second best while Four Star Tommy (Ray Fisher, Jr.) finished a distant third.

After the race a muddy Jim Morrill, Jr. said “I knew I had to get a good position early and I figured I would be on the outside most of the mile.”

Morrill also said “this is a very nice horse.”

Richard Annunziata of New York owns Slickest Hanover, who is a 4-year-old son of Western Ideal, and Ettore Annunziata does the training.

The Kane win was Slickest Hanover’s 11th victory this year and it raised his seasonal earnings to over $198,000. Going off as the second choice in the wagering, he returned $6.30 to win.

Before the night was over driver Morrill and trainer Annunziata would team up for three other winners together. Jim Morrill, Jr., the leading driver at the “Downs” the last two years, would end up with five wins altogether.

Kudos go out to Race Secretary Joe Zambito and his assistant Ginny Rosenfeld for putting together one of the best racing programs ever at America’s oldest lighted Standardbred track.