Batavia, NY – Stalking from off the pace, Good Boy finished with a flurry to take the $10,000 trotting feature at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 3) night.
Good Boy (Ray Fisher Jr.) got away fifth as Latavius (Jim Morrill Jr.) led to the quarter in :29 before relinquishing the lead to Handsome Hank (Joe Chindano Jr.), who pulled from second and went to the top. Handsome Hank then throttled down the half to a mere 1:00.1 before the real action began. As the race proceeded onto the backstretch, Good Boy was out and rolling, making his way to third at three-quarters. Good Boy continued to gain ground around the last turn and was only a quarter length off when they turned for home. As the race headed down the stretch, Handsome Hank, Latavius and Good Boy were even across the track and matched strides to the wire, where Good Boy forged ahead by a half length and won in 1:58.3, which was a seasonal mark for the winner.
It was the fourth win of the year for Good Boy ($3.90) who is owned by Mary Warriner and Swift Racing Stable and trained by Ryan Swift.
In the undercard $8,800 conditioned trot, Platinum Proposal (Drew Monti) rode the pylons third for most of the mile as two horses broke, two horses parked and Dwight Hanover (Joe Chindano Jr.) led from start to the top of the lane. There, Platinum Proposal found room in the passing lane and wore down the leader in deep stretch to win by a nose in 1:57.3.
It was the fourth win of the year for Platinum Proposal ($7.50) and owner Harry Wortzman. Shawn McDonough trains the winner.
Driver Dave McNeight III and trainer David Russo both registered hat tricks to lead their respective categories on Friday.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Oct. 4) with post time at 6:00 p.m. and there will be a carryover of $959 in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 13th race.
Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. Then you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.
(Photo courtesy of Wendy J. Lowery)