No Chester Downs? No Tioga Downs? Try Batavia Downs.

Well with Irene gutting most of the afternoon harness racing programs in the United States, including Chester Downs and Tioga Downs, what is a harness racing fan supposed to do?  Well, I looked at my ADW and afternoon racing available is Scioto Downs and Batavia Downs.  No offense to Scioto Downs, but at quick look at their program made the answer clear.  It's Batavia Downs day.

Now, I must confess, I have never played Batavia before so I can't consider myself an expert but handicapping princples don't change.  A half mile track is a half mile track.  So as a service to you, I decided to handicap the card at Batavia in the event you want a harness track to play this afternoon.

I must confess, being a Daily Double fan, I am in heaven today.  Not only is there the early Double (races 1-2); a middle double (races 4-5); a late double (races 8-9); but they have the late late double (races 10-11).

Other exotics they have are the fifty cent Pick 4 (races 2-5), a $2 Pick 6 (races 7-12) with a guaranteed $1,000 pool (this is a small-time track) and dime superfectas on races 3, 5, 6, 8, 9-12).  Of course all races have exactas and trifectas.

For those who want to try something new, here are my picks for Batavia Downs:

1st Pace - $2,800; $4,000 Claiming Non-Winners of $1,000 Last 5 Starts  Post Time 1:15PM
2 - Rick's On Belief (Whisman, 4-1)
4 - Ideal Escape (D McNeight III, 8-1)
7 - Onehitwonder (Cummings, 10-1)

2nd Trot - $5,000; $7,500 Claiming; AE: NW $2,500 Last 5 Starts
2 - Crown Man (Boring, 5-2)
8 - Winning Agenda (Fisher, 8-1)
3 - Mac Atack Mac (Baumeister, 12-1)

3rd Pace - $3,500; W2-4PM LT
1 - Intermezzo Hanover (J McNeight, 1-1)
5 - Native Run (Page, 12-1)
6 - Ribbons Of Color (D McNeight III, 15-1)
8 - Cashmandu (Boring, 8-1)

4th Pace - $3,000; H&G $4,000 Claiming W/O $1,000 Last 5 Starts
5 - Rembrandt Van Ryn (Flangen, 6-1)
2 - Sound Dragin (D McNeight III, 3-1)
1 - Four Starz Tickets (Cummings, 2-1) 

5th Pace - $2,200; NW $1,000 Last 5 Starts
2 - One More Day (J McNeight, 9-2)
4 - Ellie's Crew (Baumeister, 8-1)
8 - Prolific Pacer (D McNeight III, 12-1)
6 - Kashability (Caprio, 7-2)

6th Pace- $3,800; H&G $5,000 Claiming
1 - Listen Hanover (Mcdonough, 2-1)
2 - Teen Elvis (Boring, 4-1)
5 - Worries Stay Small (Cummings, 7-2)
6 - Nuclear Cam (Page, 20-1)

7th Pace - $3,000; F&M $4,000 Claiming W/O $1,000 Last Starts
2 - Red On A Rose (Fisher, 7-2)
6 - Mystically (D McKneight III, 5-1)
3 - Reatta (Page, 9-2)

8th Pace - $3,000; H&G $4m000 Claiming W/O $1,000 Last 5 Starts
1 - Albagold (J McNeight, 5-2)
7 - Video Express (Cummings, 3-1)
3 - On The Road Ahead (McDonough, 5-1)
2 - Eternal Revenue (D McNeight III, 9-2)

9th Trot - $2,800; 7YO and Under NW 2PM LT
1 - Peter Crossmon (Boring, 6-1)
5 - Euro Zone (Whisman, 8-1)
4 - Off The Deep End (D McNeight Jr, 7-2)
6 - The MExican (Yetman, 5-1)

10th Pace - $5,200; H&G $8,000 Claiming
6 - Brandon's Art (Cummings, 7-2)
2 - Cee Pee Bush (Page, 8-1)
5 - Forever Blue (Flangen, 5-2)
3 - Classy Fun (Cummings, 3-1)

11th Pace - $2,800; $4,000 Claimin NW $1,000 Last 5 Starts
1 - Awesome Ashley (Dahn, 5-1)
2 - Gabby Hays (Yetman, 7-2)
3 - Foxy Moxie (Baumeister, 8-1)
6 - Get Out Of Tune (Page, 3-1)

12th Pace - $3,800; H&G $5,000 Claiming
3 - Hedge Fund (Fisher, 5-2)
6 - Maes Boy Blue ( Cummings, 4-1)
8 - Irish Cowboy (Whisman, 10-1)
2 - Warrawee Kiwi (McNeight, 9-2)