Batavia, NY — Old Man Winter continued his residency at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Jan. 29) and provided more wind, snow and bone-chilling temperatures for the proceedings. Crazy Fool braved the elements and won the featured $10,000 Class A-AA Trot with an impressive turn of foot.
Crazy Fool (Kyle Cummings) watched from his pylon start as Latavius (Brett Beckwith) took the lead passing the eighth pole. But Cummings had Crazy Fool right back out, and the pair crossed over to regain the lead at the quarter in :30.3 before stepping to the half in 1:02, where the race broke into two groups that were separated by a healthy gap.
Crazy Fool continued his measured control while Double Class (Denny Bucceri) pulled from third and drew alongside Latavius at three-quarters in 1:31.1. The trio then entered the fourth turn, where Crazy Fool was looking very much the best, Latavius rebuffed Double Class’s challenge, and the rest of the field was no longer a factor. When Crazy Fool turned for home, he had a 1-1/2-length lead on Latavius, who had no answers as the wire approached, leaving Crazy Fool an easy winner in 2:00.2.
Crazy Fool ($12.48) is owned by his driver, Kyle Cummings, in partnership with Matthew Miller. Tammy Cummings trains the 6-year-old gelded son of Crazy Wow-Winkys Gal.
The other big winner on Thursday was driver Drew Monti, who scored a grand slam at the lines. Monti won with Rock Me Always (2:00.3, $4.36), Dandys BB Eight (2:00.3, $4.74), Kb’ssweetcaroline (1:59.3, $7.36) and McVera (1:58.3, $3.50).
Monti’s victory quad pushed him back into first place for wins (15) this meet, vaulting past Brett Beckwith (12), who was shut out on Thursday’s card.
Nine different trainers won one race each during the nine-race program.
Live racing at Batavia Downs will reconvene on Tuesday (Feb. 3) at 1 p.m.
There are only two days of racing left in the winter meet, but the final pair of programs will be packed full of action and offer the largest slate of purses this meet.
Tuesday will feature the $13,000 final of the Batavia Downs Winter Series Trot and the $12,500 Open for fillies and mares. On Thursday (Feb. 5), the $14,000 and $11,000 finals of the Batavia Downs Winter Series Paces and the $12,500 Open Pace for males will be contested. All those races will be highly competitive and offer excellent betting opportunities at all levels.
Free full-card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website under the “Live Racing” tab. Then, you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.