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The Saturday (Sept. 16) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Batavia Downs, Hollywood Dayton Raceway, Saratoga Casino Hotel and Vernon Downs.

Team Captain upsets Batavia Downs Open Pace

Batavia, NY — Even though the betting public completely overlooked Tioga Downs invader Team Captain at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (Sept. 16), the 16-1 pacer made his presence known in the $10,500 featured Open by upsetting local favorite Fireyourguns in one of the most exciting races held at the Downs this season.

Paul White photo

Team Captain upsets the Batavia feature at odds of 16-1.

Team Captain (John Cummings Jr.) got away last in the field of seven as even-money shot Fireyourguns went three-deep to take the lead and set quick early fractions of :26.1 and :54.2. He was being prompted by Believe This Bob (Shawn McDonough) who was parked out the entire mile. As the field bunched into two rows up the backstretch, Team Captain was still last and third-over in the outer flow at three-quarters in 1:23.1 but that was about to change.

Coming off the last turn, Focus Power (Drew Monti) tipped three-deep around Itsonlyrocknroll A (Larry Stalbaum) and Team Captain tipped four-wide around him. As the cavalry charge roared down the stretch, Fireyourguns weakened inside as Focus Power and Team Captain went toe-to-toe all the way to the wire with Team Captain eventually getting a head advantage under the light in 1:52.4.

Team Captain ($34.20) scored his sixth win of the year for owner Joseph Martinelli Sr. who has benefited from his horse’s efforts this year in the amount of $35,610. Paul Bernardo trains the 5-year-old gelded son of Cam’s Card Shark.

In the co-featured $9,000 Open II pacing event, Show Stopping ($28.20) tracked fast fractions set by Mister Livan N (Larry Stalbaum) from sixth before pulling second-over at three-quarters and then tipping three-wide at the top of the stretch to pace away from the field and win by one-half length in 1:53.1.

Show Stopping is owned by Resilient Racing Stable and trained by Rose Russo.

Drew Monti, Kevin Cummings, John Cummings Jr. and Ray Fisher Jr. all had driving doubles Saturday. Trainer Rose Russo also sent out two winners from her stable.

Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Monday (Sept. 18) with post time at 5 p.m.

— by Tim Bojarski

Hollywood Dayton Raceway

Well traveled Secret Threat scored his most impressive victory of the year Saturday night (Sept. 16) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway winning the $18,500 Open Pace in 1:51.4.Driver Josh Sutton tucked along the pylons in the early going, allowing five of his foes to battle for position in front of him through a taxing :26.4 first quarter mile. The eventual winner was moved into second-over position in the outer flow by the :54.4 halfway point, then tipped three-wide as the field sped past the 1:23.1 third quarter clocking. Secret Threat collared frontrunning Kolt Power (Chris Page) in deep stretch while 30-1 longshot Nvestment Blue Chip (Jeremy Smith) made a valiant stretch bid that fell just short but yielded a show finish. It was the fifth win of the season for Secret Threat, a 5-year-old son of Palone Ranger owned and trained by Justin Lloyd. He now has 26 career tallies in exactly 100 lifetime starts and passes the $250,000 bankroll plateau with this triumph. A race earlier, Whataboy (Chris Page) and On The Rantan N (Jason Brewer) couldn’t be separated by the photo finish camera following a 1:52 mile, producing the fastest dead-heat in the brief four year history of Hollywood Dayton. The $14,000 condition race featured a full field of non-winners of ten races or $75,000 lifetime. Racing resumes next Friday night (Sept. 22) following a brief respite during Little Brown Jug week in Delaware, Ohio.

Saratoga Casino Hotel

Respectable Dream (If I Can Dream) pulled off an upset in the Saturday night feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Richie Silverman-trained pacer scored a wire-to-wire win in the $14,000 Winners Over with Mark Beckwith in the sulky. Respectable Dream was coming off a third place finish in last week’s Open Pace when he was dismissed at odds of 13-1 in Saturday’s feature. Beckwith moved Respectable Dream out to a pretty easy lead and by the time the favored Givenupdreaming (Billy Dobson) made his move first-over, it was too little too late. Respectable Dream paced his final half in :55.2 en route to victory in 1:52.2. We Think Alike (Bruce Aldrich Jr) got the pocket ride behind the eventual winner and wound up finishing second. Seeley Man (Shawn Gray) was late on the scene to be third. The trip proved to be too difficult for Givenupdreaming who had to settle for fourth in the feature. Respectable Dream returned $29.00 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $180.50 and $844, respectively. While it was just winner number three on the season for the 6-year-old gelding, it was his third in the last six starts. Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Vernon Downs

Love Live Laugh (Jimmy Whittemore) took the featured fillies and mares pace ($9,000) at Vernon Downs on Saturday night (Sept. 16).Love Live Laugh (Hi Ho Silverheel’s) would go gate-to-wire putting up all the fractions :28.0, :57.2, 1:24.3 and 1:53.0. Owned and trained by Dennis Whittemore, the 7-year-old mare would hold off a late charge by second place finisher Drea’s Good Powow (John MacDonald). Tiger Boudoir (Truman Gale) was third. Love Live Laugh ($7.70) won her fourth race of the season and got career victory number 26. It was Deja Vu for John MacDonald. He won six races last yesterday and six more tonight. He got wins tonight with Steuben Magic Ride ($30.20), Silver Arrow ($2.10), Major Starlight ($4.40), Machmemackie ($2.80), On The Big Swing ($2.70), and A Fool For Mark ($3.00). Vernon Downs returns to live action on Thursday (Sept. 21) starting at 6:45 p.m. For more information go to www.vernondowns.com.