GATES OPEN FOR 46TH SEASON
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 14, 2007
Contact: David Mattice
Publicity Dept.
585-924-3232 x234 NEWS RELEASE
FARMINGTON, N.Y. – Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack began the 2007 live racing season with Kitten’s Tale winning the first race in gate-to-wire fashion in her career debut. The 3-year-old filly trained by Sal Iorio, Jr. broke quickly under jockey Robert Messina and held on to take the four and one-half furlong sprint by one and three-quarters of a length in front of 4,097 fans. It was the second consecutive year that Messina rode the winner of the season opener.
The $35,000 2-year-old purchase owned by Mark Valentine finished in a time of :53.64. She was the post time favorite in the race and paid $4.10, $2.60 and $2.20. Navy Miss closed ground to finish second and returned $3.00 and $2.60. Magnificent Looker was third and paid $3.10.
John Grabowski returned from a career threatening injury to win the second race of the card aboard As the Dove Flies for trainer M. Anthony Ferraro. Grabowski was sidelined since August with multiple fractures to his pelvis. The 45-year-old from Coalinga, California is now 17 victories away from being the second all time leading rider at Finger Lakes.
Both Chris Englehart and John Davila, Jr. were honored for their respective 2006 titles after the first race on Saturday. Englehart’s win total of 141 broke his own record of most wins in a single season at Finger Lakes. He surpassed his previous high of 136 victories in 2004.
John Davila, Jr., had 201 wins in 2006 to earn his fifth straight jockey title. Davila, Jr. finished second among the top 100 riders in the nation last year with a 28.5 winnning percentage. The Juncos, Puerto Rico native was ranked 28th in the country in 2006 by the Thoroughbred Times. Davila, Jr. had a successful opening day with two visits to the winners circle.
Finger Lakes will offer live racing in April three days a week with dark days of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. First race post time will be at 1:10 p.m. everyday. Fridays and Sundays will be added to the schedule beginning May 4.
.jpg)
