Photo of Chumlee A with driver Larry Stalbaum.
By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
In a performance that could only be described as overwhelming, Chumlee A made a bold backside move after being parked out from the start to win by as many as he wanted in the $10,000 Open Handicap Pace at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (Dec. 2).
Major Trick (Kevin Cummings), Lucky McTrucky (Drew Monti) and Chumlee A (Larry Stalbaum) all left the gate and wanted to cut the mile, but only one could do it. So Major Trick grabbed the pylons and parked out Lucky McTrucky while Chumlee A settled in second-over in the outer flow. The top two horses fought tooth, fang and claw through swift early fractions of :27.1 and :55.4 and neither one would relent.
With the same leading order headed around turn three, Stalbaum tired of following and tipped Chumlee A three-deep past the five-eighths pole as the group motored up the backside and by the three-quarters cleared, and the route was on. Chumlee A was in overdrive and opened up distance between himself and the rest of the field with every stride. Stalbaum sat chilly from the top of the lane home as Chumlee A continued to pour it on of his own volition, eventually ending the six-length route in 1:54.
It was the third straight win both in North America and at Batavia Downs for Chumlee A ($3.20) and it established a new lifetime mark for the Somebeachsomewhere progeny. Chumlee A is owned by Mark Jakubik and Kim Asher, who also does the training.
The $9,000 co-featured Open II Pace went to Heaven Rocks (Ron Beback Jr.) who toured the facility on the front end unfettered from start to finish, winning by a gapped five lengths in 1:53.3. Heaven Rocks ($5.70) sixth win of the season was also a new lifetime mark for the 5-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven that is owned by William Emmons and trained by James Clouser Jr.
Larry Stalbaum, Ray Fisher Jr. and Ron Beback Jr. all has two wins on the night.
Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Dec. 6) at 5 p.m. when the early Pick-5 wager will carry a guaranteed pool of $2,500. Please note that it will be the last Wednesday of the year as racing will only be held on Friday (Dec. 15) and Saturday (Dec. 16) the final week of the meet.
