“Outsiders” ran away with Batavia features on closing night

Batavia, NY — A shipper from Saratoga Raceway and a local 10-1 shot made up a pair of literal outsiders who captured easy wins in the closing night features on Saturday (Dec. 20) at Batavia Downs, while fighting near hurricane force wind gusts that plagued the entire card. 

The $12,500 Open I-II Handicap pace was first to be contested and Spa invader, Hunter Hill, made quick and easy work of the local entries. 

Hunter Hill (Drew Monti) travelled second behind I Ain’t No Mack (Kevin Cummings) to the :27.2 quarter before pulling and taking the lead prior to reaching the half in :57 flat. From there, Hunter Hill marched smartly on the point to three-quarters, despite a legitimate challenge from Toreador Gb (Joe Chindano Jr.) during that panel. But Hunter Hill put that threat to rest around the last turn and had a two length lead entering the stretch. When he straightened for home, Hunter Hill swelled up and bolted to the line, a clear winner by 4-¾ lengths in 1:56. 

Despite going off a rank longshot in four of his last five starts, Hunter Hill was heavily backed at Batavia and returned $5.04 for the win. Hunter Hill is owned and trained by Scott West. 

Then in the $12,500 Open trot, the mutuelly overlooked Dougadougadew drafted through a perfect trip to strike late for his second win in a row. 

Dougadougadew (Kyle Cummings) sat in the cozy pocket behind El Toro Loco (Kevin Cummings) through quarters of :28.4, 1:00.1 and 1:29.4 as the rest of the field lagged three lengths behind the leaders. As the top pair came off the final bend, Dougadougadew pulled off the pins, got in gear and blew right past El Toro Loco en route to a 4-¼ length victory in 2:00.1. 

It was the fourth win of the year for Dougadougadew ($22.24), who is owned by Doug and Tyra Ackley and trained by Tammy Cummings.

The triple threat of driver Kevin Cummings, trainer Sam Smith and owner Mike Torcello struck again with four winners on getaway day at The Downs, and put an exclamation point on their very successful season.

The trio scored with the heavily-bet True That (2:00.2, $6.34), Nautical Hanover (1:59, $3.52), Tymal Envoy (2:01.4, $2.46) and Wild Bill Kelso (2:02.3, $2.94). 

Live racing will resume at Batavia Downs in 2026 on Tuesday (Jan. 13) at 3:00 p.m. 
Replays of all the races held in 2025 are available on the Downs’ website (bataviadownsgaming.com) under the Live Racing tab and then Race Replays on the left side of the menu.

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs Gaming