Batavia, NY — There were two big winners at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Sept. 30) night. Granny’s Watching, who got her seventh win of the year in the featured $13,500 AA-Open for fillies and mares, and Chase Russo, who notched the first-ever pari-mutuel driving win of his career with Initial Concept, who won in a season’s best clocking.
In the distaff Open, Granny’s Watching (Shawn McDonough) got away second behind Face The Shadows (Kevin Cummings), who stepped off firm fractions of :27.4, :58.1 and 1:26.3 to three-quarters, as Windsun Charlotte (Dave McNeight III) and Rightfully Mine (Drew Monti) towered two and three high alongside pushing the pace.
Those top horses continued to battle three across the track through the last turn, while Granny’s Watching viewed the action from a tight pocket, just waiting for an opening. That break finally came at the top of the stretch where Granny’s Watching slipped into the passing lane, while Face The Shadows hooked wheels with Windsun Charlotte in deep stretch, taking both out of contention. That left Granny’s Watching a loose leader, flying to the line on top by 2-¼ lengths in 1:56.
Granny’s Watching ($9.64) is owned by her trainer, Taylor Fritz, in partnership with Hartel Maintenance.
Chase Russo’s big win came in the very next race with Initial Concept, who got away sixth as Kilowatt Kid N (Drew Monti) led to the half in :58.2, before Motive Hanover (Brett MacDonald) started to match strides with him at three-quarters. At that same point, Russo had put Initial Concept into play from the rear of the pack and made his way to fourth outside as they moved through the turn. The top two continued their match race while Initial Concept incrementally moved into third at the top of the stretch. When they straightened for home, Initial Concept swelled up and bolted past them all to win by 1-¼ lengths in 1:56.3.
Initial Concept ($23.60) is owned by Sebastian Calimeri and trained by Cassie Russo.
Chase Russo comes from a multi-generational harness racing family that include his parents, Chris and Cassie Russo, uncle David Russo and aunt and uncle Louis and Rose Russo, all having deep western New York racing roots.
Russo, who turned 18-years-old only four days ago, has been honing his driving skills in qualifying races and fair competitions all year long and those early lessons led up to his success on Thursday. He posted a .327 UDR in those non-betting fair starts that included eight wins, nine seconds and 15 thirds from 55 starts.
Russo plans on making a career of driving horses and made a big stride towards achieving that goal with this win.
Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Oct. 1) at 5 p.m. and there will be a $9,425 carryover in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the 11th race.
Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia Downs can always be downloaded at the track’s website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. And you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.