Batavia, NY — After sitting a perfect trip behind the pacesetter, Mississippi Rabbit shook loose late and upset a fine field of top pacers in the $13,500 Open I Handicap at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (Oct. 30).

Mississippi Rabbit shook loose late and upset a fine field of top pacers in the $13,500 Open I Handicap. Paul White photo.

American Zest A (Larry Stalbaum) left like a shot and led the field through soft fractions of :29 and :56.4. While Mississippi Rabbit (Kevin Cummings) sat second in chase, the co-favored Stratosphere (Drew Monti) had pulled from fifth and was flying up the outside towards three-quarters.

As they entered the final turn, Stratosphere drew even with American Zest A and at the top of the stretch took the lead and looked clear. But the pylon path opened up and Mississippi Rabbit displayed good burst and was quickest to the wire where he won by a neck in 1:53.4.

Rocco Stebbins owns the Joe Skowyra-trained Mississippi Rabbit ($12.20) who now has seven wins and $84,340 in earnings this year.

Stalbaum may have lost the Open I, but he did win three consecutive races as both driver and trainer including the $12,100 Open II Pace and $11,250 Open III Pace.

The Open II went to Lord Willoughby A, who got to the front and kept the lead the entire mile before turning for home and winning by one length in 1:54.3. It was the eighth win of the year for Lord Willoughby A ($4.00) who is owned by Shark Racing.

And in the Open III, Catcha Lefty A found his best leg of the year after going unmolested gate-to-wire and winning by a head in 1:54.3. Catcha Lefty A ($4.90) is owned by Stalbaum who privately purchased the 9-year-old gelding after his last start.

Stalbaum completed his hat trick with Andreios Kardia (1:54, $3.00).

When live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 3) there will be two carryovers on the betting menu. First in the Jackpot Pick-6 in race four, there is a carryover of $999 and then later in race nine, the Jackpot Super Hi-5 has a carryover of $13,769.

Free full past performance program pages for all live Batavia Downs races can be downloaded at bataviadownsgaming.com under the live racing tab where free full card past performance programs are always available for every live racing night at Batavia Downs.

And if you can’t attend the races in person, you can still watch a live stream of the entire night’s action on the Batavia Downs Youtube channel.

Post time for the first race is 5 p.m.