by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway
HAMBURG, N.Y. --- BZ Glide ($4.00) tied the all-time
trotting record in Buffalo Raceway's $11,500 Open Trot on Friday night (June
29) and broke the aged (5+) gelding mark as well with a brilliant gate-to-wire
1:56.1 mile over the fast track. It was also a lifetime mark for the 9-year-old
gelded BZ Glide whose previous career best was 1:56.3.
The all-time standard equaled by BZ Glide will be shared
with Gural Hanover and Chelseas Chance who each went 1:56.1 in 2014 and 2018
respectively. Ironically, Chelseas Chance finished second, two lengths behind
behind BZ Glide on Friday.
The aged (5+) gelding record was 1:56.2 established by
Lutetium in 2014 and Kahoku in 2016.
While BZ Glide gets the credit for the record-tying race,
driver Mike Caprio said the change of bikes made a huge difference. "The
bike I was using was like 20 years old so I bought the one I am using now from
Jim Morrill Jr. I adjusted the seat and foot pegs and BZ Glide was a lot more
comfortable with it."
BZ Glide was ready to go at the start and immediately fired
out to the lead. Posting fractions of :28.2, :57.4 and 1:27.2, it appeared Barn
Winner might be the main threat down the stretch but that attempt fizzled out.
Chelseas Chance (Bobby Verney) skimmed the rail for second while Barn Winner
(Ray Fisher Jr.) held on for third.
Owned by the Caprio Stable LLC and trained by Alana Caprio,
it was the second win in seven starts in 2018 for BZ Glide (Yankee
Glide-Bloomer Zoomer). The victory pushed his seasonal earnings to $20,930 and
$276,932 lifetime.
Ray Fisher Jr. and Kevin Cummings had doubles in the sulky
while Verney and Marc Shuttleworth had two training victories.
Racing will continue on Saturday night with 10 races
scheduled for a 6 p.m. post.
For more information including the latest news, upcoming
promotions, simulcast schedule, race replays, results and entries, go to www.buffaloraceway.com
