by John Amoia, Marketing Coordinator, Batavia Downs Casino

Batavia, NY — On Saturday night (September 10) two big events will be taking place at Batavia Downs Casino.

After the fourth harness race, five high school students, Elizabeth Shuknecht from Elba High School; Kendra Wall from Notre Dame of Batavia; Natalie Tuites from Batavia High School; Conor George from Oakfield High School and Wyatt Chittenden from Pembroke High School will go behind the starting gate to race for their share of $7,500 in college scholarship money.

The college scholarship breakdown is as follows: $3,000 going to the winner, $2,000 to the second place finisher, $1,200 to the third place finisher, $800 to the fourth place finisher and $500 going to the fifth place finisher.

All students practiced at least five times during the month of August with the driver/trainer that they will be teamed up with. They were exposed to the full equine experience associated with the racing industry.

The students and their professionals will race one mile, two laps around Batavia Downs on double-seated jog carts.

The scholarship race is a partnership between Batavia Downs Casino, Buffalo Raceway, Harness Horse Breeders of New York and the Western New York Horsemen’s Association.

Later in the evening Ben Webster and P.C. Rapone will be installed in the Upstate New York Harness Racing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2011 representing Batavia Downs.

Webster and the family of Rapone will be presented their Empire Pinnacle Crystal awards to mark the occasion, trackside after the seventh and eighth races.

Ben Webster is a home grown Western New York racing legend. He lived in Hilton, N.Y., and got his first driving win at the age of 16 at the Hemlock Fair; both a mere 25 miles from Batavia Downs Casino. But that incipient stage of his development would later see a 47-year career unfold on the biggest stages of the sport as Webster would go on to win the Hambletonian, the Little Brown Jug and the Kentucky Futurity. In a career that spanned six decades, Benny “The Whip” Webster won 4,378 races and his horses earned purses of $43,197,645.

Born and raised in Caledonia, N.Y., Patsy C. Rapone came from a harness racing family; just about every relative was involved in the sport in some capacity. His father Lou Rapone was a national training and driving force from the 1950s right through the 1970s and amassed 2,069 wins in his career. So it was no surprise when Patsy left high school to go work with his dad taking care of the horses. He started driving at age 21 at Batavia Downs in 1974. During his short career, Patsy C. Rapone won 2,643 races and $5.8 million in purse money. He died of brain cancer on May 16, 1996, at the age of 42.