{"id":20804,"date":"2019-07-21T13:39:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T17:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/?p=20804"},"modified":"2019-07-21T13:43:13","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T17:43:13","slug":"one-season-done-another-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/2019\/07\/one-season-done-another-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"One Season Done, Another Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Buffalo Raceway concludes season, Batavia Downs opens Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is over\u2014for 2019.\u00a0 The season at Buffalo Raceway, which began on Jan. 25 has concluded.\u00a0 But, fear not.\u00a0 If you live in Western New York, the same horses, same drivers and same trainers are heading east (about 45 miles) to Batavia Downs for its 2019 season.<\/p>\n<p>I tuned in for the season finale at what the locals call \u201cThe Hamburg Oval,\u201d and the final race was a good one.\u00a0 It was a Class D pace\u2014the lowest there\u2014and it ran for what we might call a paltry purse of $4,400, but there they were, eight pacers giving their all.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure the pacers know how much money is at stake, but one thing we do know is when the car speeds away, the pacers and trotters come to play.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lucky Millionaire<\/strong>\u00a0was shown no love as he was sent off at 16-1, but the 10-year old was feeling good, taking them through the quarter in 28.4 and the half in 58.2, but remember; he was 16-1 for a reason.\u00a0 By three-quarters, the favored 9-year old\u00a0<strong>Story Book\u00a0<\/strong>took command and then held off the 7-year old\u00a0<strong>Holla At UrBoy<\/strong>\u00a0to win in a crisp 1:57.2\u00a0 In Harness racing, we divvy the purse as follows:\u00a0 50 percent for the win and then 25, 12, 8, and 5 percent for places two through five.\u00a0 For Story Book, it\u2019s another $2,200; for Holla At UrBoy, $1,100 and $528 for the 16-1 Lucky Millionaire.\u00a0 Also picking up checks were Indy Ingot, $352 and Autobiographical, $220.<\/p>\n<p>This is why I prefer Harness racing over the thoroughbreds.\u00a0 Now, don\u2019t get me wrong, there is nothing like a big thoroughbred race and if you caught the thrilling Haskell last evening, you know how exciting that can be, but the thoroughbreds, for the most part, cannot offer the Story Books and the Lucky Millionaires.\u00a0\u00a0 These pacers and trotters will race week in and week out, allowing fans like us an opportunity to develop favorites.<\/p>\n<p>As a case in point, let\u2019s look at the opening card at Batavia Downs.\u00a0 The final race of the evening is for $4,900 and is open to non-winners of $2,250 in their last four races.\u00a0 These horses can be claimed for $4,500 each and the eight fillies and mares have combined to make 158 starts this year, an average just under 20.\u00a0 You\u2019ll never see that in thoroughbred racing and nor should you.\u00a0 They may share the name Horse Racing, but they are two completely different sports.\u00a0 The Open I, as it is called runs for $12,500 and features the best that both Buffalo and Batavia offer.\u00a0 In this race, the eight fillies and mares have combined to make 153 starts.<\/p>\n<p>When people ask me why I prefer \u201cthe Harnesses,\u201d that\u2019s my answer.\u00a0 I cite familiarity, consistency and regularity.\u00a0 Sarah Cola, unless she is injured or getting a break is going to race at least three times a month at Buffalo or Batavia.\u00a0 And, this year, in her 19 starts, she has four wins, one second and three thirds and $23,800 in earnings.<\/p>\n<p>The Downs will race from Wednesday, July 25 through Saturday, Dec. 14, offering 65 racing dates.\u00a0 Combined with Buffalo\u2019s 66 dates, there are 131 racing dates in WNY over the 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can make a living there,\u201d said driver Shawn Gray.\u00a0 \u201cThe tracks are close enough, they race enough and the purses are good enough to make some decent money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gray now races at Saratoga Casino Hotel, moving there to be closer to his family in Maine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI moved to Buffalo from Maine back in 2012,\u201d Gray said, \u201cI did well there, but I wanted to move closer to home so I now race at Saratoga and Plainridge (MA).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a special year for Batavia Downs.\u00a0 On Saturday, Sept 14, they will host for the first time ever the finals of the New York State Sire Stakes for 2 and 3-year old pacers and trotters.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s eight races\u2014four for the fillies and four for the colts and geldings\u2014 and each race has a $225,000 purse.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Sire Stakes promotes the breeding, buying and racing of Standardbreds in the Empire State.\u00a0 New York was the pioneer in creating this program and many states have since followed suit.\u00a0 In addition to that, on that same Sept. 14, the Kane Memorial Pace for 3-year olds and up will run for a purse of $50,000.<\/p>\n<p>The Downs will run just about every Wednesday evening and will run three or four days per week over the next six months.\u00a0 They\u2019ll run Sundays in July and August, but once the Buffalo Bills season begins, they\u2019ll move to Saturday evenings.\u00a0 No use taking on the team that generates TV ratings in the 30s and 40s during the NFL season.<\/p>\n<p>Things are looking up at Batavia Downs (the first harness track I visited back in the day).\u00a0 Purses are up 10 percent and the track, which almost closed several years ago, seems to be on solid footing.\u00a0 It kicks off at 6 pm this Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buffalo Raceway concludes season, Batavia Downs opens Wednesday. It is over\u2014for 2019.\u00a0 The season at Buffalo Raceway, which began on Jan. 25 has concluded.\u00a0 But, fear not.\u00a0 If you live in Western New York, the same horses, same drivers and same trainers are heading east (about 45 miles) to Batavia Downs for its 2019 season. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>One Season Done, Another Begins - Horse Racing 224: Horse Tips &amp; Stories By John Furgele<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratogaracetrack.com\/horse-racing-224\/2019\/07\/one-season-done-another-begins\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Season Done, Another Begins - Horse Racing 224: Horse Tips &amp; Stories By John Furgele\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Buffalo Raceway concludes season, Batavia Downs opens Wednesday. It is over\u2014for 2019.\u00a0 The season at Buffalo Raceway, which began on Jan. 25 has concluded.\u00a0 But, fear not.\u00a0 If you live in Western New York, the same horses, same drivers and same trainers are heading east (about 45 miles) to Batavia Downs for its 2019 season. 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In 1985, he made his first trip to a racetrack\u2014Fort Erie\u2014and the association flourished. During that time, he has seen some of the greats--Seattle Slew in 1977 and the legendary battles between Affirmed and Alydar in 1978. He watched Niatross tear up harness racing to the level that the New York Post named him Athlete of the Year. In 40 years, the stakes may have changed, but its essence has not and that\u2019s the beauty of this magnificent sport. He will try to give you an honest opinion about the races as well as the issues that both horse and harness racing face today. As we know, there are challenges. Furgele lives in Delmar, NY and to collect money, works in sales and stays busy with his kids. 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