from harness publicists across North America

Sunday’s (Aug. 3) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Harrah’s Philadelphia and Batavia Downs.

Southwestern Dream gets career win 50 at Harrah’s Philly

Chester, PA — Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi’s millionaire pacer Southwestern Dream achieved a career milestone at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon (Aug 3), by paying his 50th lifetime visit to the winner’s circle. The son of Cambest was sent off as the favorite against seven mid-level conditioned foes, going for a purse of $17,000. He took control immediately after the wings closed, and made every call a winning one, stopping the clock in 1:52.1. The Ron Burke trainee has been a blue collar sort, earning most of his one million dollars in overnight events. It was one of five driving wins for George Brennan.

In other news, Trevor Stafford’s Bigtown Hero was dominating in victory today. He drafted behind the speed of Here We Go Again until just beyond three-quarters, and then erupted home in 26.2, going on to a nine length win against mid-level conditioners. He stopped the clock in 1:48.3, just one-fifth of a second off the track record for aged geldings. He was driven by Hall of Famer Ron Pierce.

— Mike Bozich

Batavia Downs
After last night’s cancellation due to poor weather conditions, the horses went back to work today only to be greeted by more rain and a track rated “good”. But that didn’t keep BZ Glide from going worst to first in the Open trotting feature on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 3). As soon as the gate pulled away from the six-horse field, I’m The Cash Man (Drew Monti) crossed over from post two and had the lead before they hit the turn. The remainder of the field followed in drawn order until just before the half when Studio City (Ron Beback Jr.) pulled first-over from third to challenge the leader. By the time the group passed the half in 59.4 and headed to the three-quarters, a full outer flow had developed when Serious George (Jack Flanigen) and 1-2 betting favorite BZ Glide (Mike Caprio) came out to join the fray. At the top of the final turn, Serious George tipped three-deep and BZ Glide fanned four-wide as they motored towards the payoff. It was at that point that BZ Glide appeared to have a gas pedal as he easily sped away from the pack to win by a widening two-length margin. The betting choice paid $3.10 for the win. The victory timed in 1:59.1 was the third of the year for BZ Glide and brought his seasonal earnings up to $32,120. The 5-year-old gelded son of Yankee Glide-Bloomer Zoomer is both owned and trained by his driver, Mike Caprio. Driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. had four winners on the card and that effort put him in a tie with Aaron Merriman for the North American dash-winning driver title with 453 victories each. Wrenn won with Bailey’s Magic ($5.90), Launching Tonight ($13.00), Ol’ Man River ($7.50) and Four Starz Credit ($3.00).