Restless horse goes for walkabout, wins race
From Todd Bojarski for Batavia Downs.
The race summary for Friday, Nov. 22nd at Batavia Downs will tell you that Lougazi won the $12,500 Open 1 Handicap trot in the seventh race by an easy 1 ¼ lengths, but that’s not the whole story.
It capped an amazing 24 hours for the horse, who just the night previous had an adventure which saw him corralled in the Batavia Downs parking pot at 2 a.m.
Due to high winds on Thursday night, the bar door of Barn 1 swung open and after opening his own stall door, Lougazi went for a walk, ambling around the barn area. After meandering his way over to the Richmond Avenue entrance, he proceeded to walk out the gate onto Richmond Avenue.
After spending some quality time at the VA, he walked down to Alex’s Place to check out their festive holiday decorations. Feeling a bit lucky, next he headed over to the Batavia Downs parking lot where a friendly patron was able to stall him until Batavia Downs staff could coax him back to his stall with a midnight snack of horse feed.
Security was informed by a patron that the horse was loose and immediately took action.
“We followed the horse very slowly and got him back inside the gate on Richmond safely," said security guard Nate Stone.
After all that excitement, Lougazi managed to get enough sleep and was able to overcome any prerace jitters to win the Open Handicap the following night.
Photos courtesy of Paul White. Top, Lougazi with driver Ray Fisher Jr. out in front to win the Open 1 Handicap trot in the seventh race on Nov. 22. Bottom, Lougazi in the Winner's Circle.
