Batavia, NY – For the fifth straight start at Batavia Downs, the Saratoga Raceway-based Delta Three N was unbeatable regardless of class, post or getting parked as she won again in the $12,500 fillies and mares Open I-II Handicap on Wednesday (Sept. 17) evening.
Leaving from the assigned post eight, Jim Morrill Jr. was parked-out third with Delta Three N behind Won Surreal Deal (Kyle Cummings), who had trouble getting by a stubborn Bee Okay A (Dave McNeight III) in a fast first quarter of :27. Won Surreal Deal finally cleared and was immediately overtaken by Delta Three N, who was the commander of fractions for the remainder of the race. Delta Three N hit the half in :55.4 and three-quarters in 1:24.3, where an outer-flow was on the march, led by Violets Rainbow (Kyle Swift), who was followed by Gia’s Surreal (Drew Monti).
Delta Three N entered the last turn ahead by 1-1/2 lengths, but the pursuers were inching closer as they neared the stretch. At the top of the lane, Delta Three N was still in control, but a wall of horses composed of Won Surreal Deal, Violets Rainbow and Gia’s Surreal was right behind her and making up ground. But before those mares could get to the leader, Delta Three N got to the wire on top by a neck in 1:54.
It was the 11th win of the year for Delta Three N ($3.80), who is owned by Stephen Picarazzi and her trainer, Brett Derue.
Morrill, Derue and Picarazzi also teamed up to win with American Tour N ($5.50), who easily went gate to wire in 1:54.3 in the $8,300 conditioned claimer later in the card.
Another Saratoga-based trainer, Zach Gray, had the winning entry in the secondary featured $9,700 mid-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares with Lyons Miki (Joe Chindao Jr.), who pulled from fourth at the half and made her way to second at three-quarters in chase of the runaway Downtown Tonight (Jim McNeight Jr.), who was starting to come back to the pack. At the top of the stretch, Lyons Miki caught Downtown Tonight and then went by, while also holding off the late-closing Arco N (Dave McNeight III) to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.
It was the second straight win at Batavia for Lyons Miki ($4.20), who is owned by Bob Kluchevitz.
Jim Morrill Jr. had three driving wins on Wednesday and trainers Brett Derue and Shawn McDonough each had two wins.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Sept. 19) with post time at 6 p.m.
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.