by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway
HAMBURG, N.Y. --- Beachy Dream (Kevin Cummings) watched China Dream (Billy Davis Jr.) do all the legwork then reaped the reward in the end by taking Buffalo Raceway's featured $12,000 Class AA-Open Handicap Pace on Saturday night (June 13) in a seasonal best 1:54.3 over the fast track.
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| Photo by Bill Burke | ||
| Beachy Dream gets a bittersweet victory. |
It turned out to be a bittersweet victory for Beachy Dream as he was entered for the $25,000 tag and was claimed out of the race by Marissa Russo, Stuart Oppenheimer and Glasser Racing LLC.
China Dream cruised to the lead and registered fractions of :28.3, :57.4 amd 1:26.0. Sitting in the pocket turning for home, Beachy Dream ($7.90) was able to edge on by and pin the 1-3/4 length setback on China Dream. Brunello N (Drew Monti) finished in third.
Beachy Dream (If I Can Dream-Beachy Girl) was owned by Michael Torcello and trained by Gerry Sarama. The 9-year-old gelding has now earned $27,450 in 2020 and $266,030 in his career thanks to four wins in eight outings.
Hold The Gold ($3.00) got the gold medal in the $11,000 Class AA pace with a coast to coast journey in 1:54.3, beating Polak A (Shawn McDonough) by 1-1/4 lengths. It was one of five victories on the program for driver Jim Morrill Jr.
Hold The Gold, after setting splits of :28.4, :57,1 and 1:26.1, was under siege with a quarter mile to go, but Morrill Jr. kicked things into another gear and was able to turn back Polak A and third place finisher Perzy's Z Tam (Cummings).
Owned by William Emmons and trained by James Clouser Jr., it was the third win in nine outings for the 6-year-old gelded Hold The Gold (Allthatsgltrsisgold-Village Joy). He was bankrolled $18,690 on the season and $106,151 in his career.
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| Photo by Bill Burke | ||
| Hold The Gold gets the 'gold' in the co-feature. |
In the first of two $10,000 Class A paces, Class Six ($2.80) made his first start since arriving from Miami Valley and it was a huge success by wiring the field in 1:54.0. He easily turned back Brookdale Fletcher (Denny Bucceri) by 1-1/2 lengths with Stratosphere (Monti) collecting the show spot.
Driven by Morrill Jr. and trained by Sabrina Shaw, Class Six (Western Ideal-Can Du River) is owned by Eric Prevost. The 9-year-old gelding collected his first win in 10 starts on the campaign and now has put $17,710 in the bank this season and $396,216 lifetime.
Sizzling Summer ($3.50) didn't disappoint in the other division as Davis Jr., who had a driving double, steered him to the win over Motor Shark (Monti) in 1:56.2. Raylan Givens (James McNeight Jr.) rallied to grab the show dough.
It was the first start of the season for Sizzling Summer (Sportswriter-Electric Smile). Trained by Maria Rice and co-owned by Vogel Wags Nags, Team Rice Racing and Adelphi Bloodstock, the win jacked his career winnings to $73,724.
Lee Dahn had the hot hand for the trainers on the evening with a triple.
Racing will continue on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. with a 12-race program scheduled.
For more information including the latest news, race replays, entries and results, go to www.buffaloraceway.com