Knight On Ice melted the hearts of the chalk players at Buffalo Raceway on Friday afternoon (July 14) as he lit up the board with a $100.50 victory in a $8,200 pace. He won the cavalry charge to the finish line and was able to upend the 3-5 choice A Game Changer by a neck in 1:56.3 over the fast track.
The stunning upset by Knight On Ice produced some great returns. The 4-3 exacta paid $516, the 4-3-all trifecta was worth $228.50 and the 10-cent superfecta of 4-3-8-all returned a whopping $2,560.25. The mid daily double combination of Le Millenaire and Knight On Ice brought home a cool $411. Additionally, the Pick 5 was not hit, thus creating a $710 carryover into Saturday evening's card.
It was a fantastic finish as all eight pacers were within 3-1/4 lengths crossing the wire.
Oreo Dream Xtreme set the early fractions with splits of :28.1 and :57.4 but found those splits a little hot. At the three-quarter marker, Handsoffmytitos took over command in 1:26.2 but he then quickly took a knee. This gave to life to the other six.
Knight On Ice (Keith Kash Jr.) was the fastest in the center of the track and managed to hold off A Game Changer (David McNeight III), who had to settle for his fourth consecutive second-place finish. BNGS Express (Dan Yetman) collected the show spot.
The win was the third in 20 starts this year for the five-year-old gelded Knight On Ice (Pet Rock-Relot), who is co-owned by trainer Andrew Torre and Kristen Torre. The victory moved his seasonal bankroll to $27,624 and lifetime earnings to $63,567.
CR Blazin Beauty ($5.70), a winner of 10 races in 2022, notched her sixth victory this season with a coast-to-coast 2-1/4-length score over Secret Bro in a seasonal best of 1:57.4.
Starting from the four post, CR Blazin Beauty (McNeight III) cruised immediately to the top and notched fractions of :28.4, :58.4 and 1:29. Enjoying a length lead with a panel to trot, CR Blazin Beauty was home free down the lane, turning away Secret Bro (Kevin Cummings) and Jumpinthejailhouse (Christian Myers), who took second and third, respectively.
Owned by Marissa Russo and trained by David Russo, CR Blazin Beauty (Crazed-Melrose Abbey) is a nine-year-old mare that has earned $51,808 on the campaign and $480,760 in her career.
Drivers Kevin Cummings and McNeight III each had three wins while Kyle Swift, who posted his first career last Saturday, had his first double. Mihajlo Zdjelar Jr., Shawn McDonough and Ryan Swift each had two training victories.
There's a 13-race card set for Saturday evening at 6 p.m. and will feature both the $15,500 Open Pace and $15,500 Open Trot.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)