Opens decided before snow ends racing at Batavia Downs Thursday

Batavia, NY — Everything was going as scheduled at Batavia Downs on Thursday (Jan. 22) afternoon until immediately after the ninth race, when heavy snow squalls moved into Genesee County and dumped copious amounts of snow on the track while causing zero visibility at the same time. That combination prompted racing officials to quickly call off the remaining three contests due to unsafe racing conditions and an abundance of caution for the safety of the horses and horse people competing.   

However nine races were held earlier, including a pair of $12,500 co-features whose winners took different paths to their respective scores. 

First, in the Open I-II pace, Davey Day Trader found room late after a covered trip to cruise to his first victory of the year. 

The Magic Moment (Brett Beckwith) and Davey Day Trader (Kyle Swift) both left and settled first and second on the front as they passed the quarter in quick :27.4. They maintained their positions to the half where an outer flow led by Primo Uomo (Leon Bailey) and Hunter Hill (Drew Monti) joined the action as the race entered the second circuit. 

Moving up the backstretch, Primo Uomo stalled, forcing Hunter Hill three-deep in pursuit of The Magic Moment, while Davey Day Trader continued to draft along the pegs. As Primo Uomo faded late in the turn and Hunter Hill went wide at the top of the stretch, Swift tipped Davey Day Trader out into that gap and then chased down The Magic Moment in deep stretch to win by 2-¾ lengths in 1:58.1.

Davey Day Trader ($8.46) is owned by James Costa and Peter Kibler and trained by Dave McNeight Jr. 

Then in the Class AA-Open trot, Starlitcresentroll took no prisoners en route to his initial victory of 2026. 

Starlitcresentroll (Drew Monti) stepped smartly to the lead from a pylon-position start and controlled the proceedings from there. Monti set comfortable fractions of :29.3 and 1:01 with Starlitcresentroll, but then hit the gas when Beacon Beach (Brett Beckwith) came first-over and pushed a :29.1 third panel. The two trotters matched strides, within a length of each other, around the far turn and down the stretch, where Starlitcresentroll turned back Beacon Beach by three-quarters of a length in 2:00.

Starlitcresentroll ($6.24) is owned by Lucky Label Stable and trained by Taylor Fritz. 

Starlitcresentroll was one of three winners for Monti on Thursday, who led all drivers while trainers Taylor Fritz, Sam Smith and Mihajlo Zdejelar Jr. all had two wins apiece during the program. 

Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (Jan. 27) at 3:00 p.m.

Free full card past performance programs for every live card of racing at Batavia can always be downloaded at The Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the “Live Racing” tab. Then you can watch all the races live as they happen for free on the Batavia Downs YouTube page.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming