by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway
HAMBURG, N.Y. --- Leave Your Mark made it three in a row at
Buffalo Raceway on Friday night (April 29), hanging on by a diminishing head
over Strong Hope in the featured $9,000 trot. The winning time was 2:01.2 over
the good track.
There were several win streaks on the line as Strong Hope
came into the race with three straight while Leave York Mark and Red Clay each
had two. While Red Clay finished fifth, Leave Your Mark and Strong Hope were
determined to keep their streaks alive and battled right to the finish line.
Driver Jim Morrill Jr. settled into third place with Leave
Your Mark at the start but fired out and took the lead away from Lenny Mac just
before the quarter pole. Putting up fractions of 31.1, 1:00.3 and 1:30.4, Leave
Your Mark ($6.40) knew there would be challenges coming in the stretch.
Strong Hope (Ray Fisher Jr.) was first over and was in
perfect striking position in the drive to the wire. Leave Your Mark didn't give
in and was strong enough to hold off the hard-charging runner up Strong Hope.
Ali De Vie (Todd Cummings) finished in third.
Leave York Mark (Yankee Glide-Celebrity Liza) is a
7-year-old gelding who is owned by Tessa Roland and trained by JD Perrin. It
was the fourth win of the season for Leave Your Mark, now a winner of $21,514
in 2016 and $179,232 lifetime.
Morrill Jr. finished the night with three victories with
Kevin Cummings, Drew Monti and Jim McNeight each registering doubles. Perrin
and Kirk Desmond each had two training wins.
Racing will resume at 6 p.m. on Saturday night with another
11-race card set. There will be a $982 carryover in the Pick-5 which begins in
the fifth race.
For more information including the latest news, upcoming
promotions, race replays and results, go to www.buffaloraceway.com
