By Tim Bojarski for Batavia Downs
After Saturday night's cancellation due to poor weather conditions, the horses went back to work Sunday 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 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 toward 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).
Live racing resumes on Wednesday evening at Batavia Downs with a 6:35 post time. Also please remember that all Back to the Track activities originally scheduled for Aug. 2 have been moved to next Saturday (Aug. 9) do to the weather-related cancellation.
