Batavia, NY — In what can only be described as a dominant performance, Lip Reader A overpowered a solid field of sidewheelers in the $13,500 Open Handicap pace at Batavia Downs on Saturday (Sept. 12).
Drew Monti sent Lip Reader A right to the front from post 5 and went :28.1 and :56.3 to the half while Luck Is Up (Brett Macdonald) was drafting in the pocket. As the race made its way onto the backstretch, Livonjaxandqueens (Denny Bucceri) moved first-up on the rim and worked his way into second, but 1-1/4 lengths behind and alongside Luck Is Up. The challenge left Lip Reader A unfazed as they rounded the far turn because his best was yet to come. When they got to the top of the stretch, Lip Reader A simply swelled up and bolted home as he opened up a 4-3/4 length bulge at the line where he won in 1:52.3, which was a new seasonal mark for the winner.
It was the seventh win of the year and 51st career win for the 12-year-old Lip Reader A, who is owned by Vogel & Wags Nags and Team Rice Racing and trained by Maria Rice. He paid $5.86 to win.
Lip Reader A was one of three winners for Monti, who was the leading driver for Saturday.
The featured trot on Saturday was the $11,000 Class AA condition, which was won by longshot Fiftyfour K, who benefitted from dropping out of the Open and drawing an inside post.
John Cummings Jr. took Fiftyfour K back to third as Cool Clifford (Dave McNeight III) and Crazy Ritz (Joe Chindano Jr.) traded leads before the :28 quarter, with the latter then taking the field to the half in :58. Crazy Ritz got a short breather, but Fiftyfour K came calling first-over and locked-up with Crazy Ritz with both drivers highly animated in their attempts to hold the lead at three-quarters. Fiftyfour K moved to first by a head, but Crazy Ritz fought back in the turn and went ahead by a length at the top of the stretch. But Fiftyfour K caught a second wind and moved back ahead of Crazy Ritz and then held off a late charge by Chamba (Shawn Gray) to win by one-half length in 1:57.1.
Fiftyfour K, who paid $49.02, is owned by his trainer, Andy Torre, in partnership with Kristin Torre.
Dave Russo and Sam Smith both had two wins to lead all trainers on Saturday.
The guaranteed pool in the Pick-5 wager on Saturday paid off well for those who hit it as the 2-2-4-6-3 combination returned $1,200.42 for the 50-cent wager.
Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Sept. 16) at 5 p.m. (EDT) and there will be $2,653 carryover in the Jackpot Hi-5 pentafecta wager in the 12th race.
Just a reminder that post time for this Thursday (Sept. 17) has been moved to 2 p.m. to free up the evening for harness racing members of Bills Mafia as the Buffalo Bills play their highly anticipated first home game of the season in the New Highmark Stadium.
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.