EAST
VS. WEST DRIVING CHALLENGE CONTINUES; BIT
PLAYER HEADLINES SIRE STAKES CLASH
The second leg of the East Vs. West Amateur
Driving Challenge and a $10,000 California Sire Stakes for the 3-year-old
pacing colts are the main events on Saturday evening’s Cal Expo program.
The
two-night Driving Challenge, which began Friday, includes the fourth, sixth,
eighth and tenth contests on Saturday’s 15-race card, while the Sire Stakes is
headed by Bit Player and goes as the third on the evening.
Representing the local
team in the East Vs. West Challenge are Karen Isbell, Sue Boyce, Dave Siegel
and Rich Bertrand, and they will be facing the Eastern squad of Dein Spriggs,
Bob Krivelin and father-daughter George Bonomo and Michelle Ruvola.
Bit Player gets top
billing in the Sire Stakes after posting a convincing victory in the most
recent big-money clash for this group two weeks ago. A Desomer Stables homebred
son of Moixe from the Leading Edge mare Linear, he is conditioned by Vickie
Desomer and as usual will be handled by Steve Wiseman.
The dark-hued gelding
was up close and personal throughout in that last stakes gathering on March 30,
opened up on his rivals turning for home and came to the wire with two and a
half-lengths to spare while equaling his lifetime standard with the 1:56 3/5
clocking.
Taking him on are Hi Ho
Disguise with Luke Plano; Winonefordoug for Rick Bertrand; Lebo Jones, Scott
Cisco; Kablooie with Bruce Clarke; and Me Tarzan, who leaves from the outside
with Tim Maier.
RUVOLA RETURNS TO SCENE
OF THE UPSET
Six
years after recording what she describes as the most exciting win of her
career, Michelle Ruvola returns to Cal Expo as part of the invading team in the
East vs. West Amateur Driving Challenge.
Michelle’s
only previous appearance in the Challenge came back in 2007 and she certainly
made her mark, guiding the 75-1 shot Cicely Coe to victory in one of the legs.
“All I remember is that there was a wall of horses in front of us turning for
home, a hole opened up and we shot through. It was one of my greatest thrills.”
Ruvola,
who has been married for 23 years and has two children age 21 and 18, has been
actively involved in harness racing for the last 16 years and credits father
George with giving her the opportunities to compete in what has become her
passion. “We’ve driven in races together before, but this will be the first
time we’re competing in the same series. Of course, we’re trying to win for the
same team, so it is a little different.”
Last
year Ruvola had the opportunity to compete in the Women’s International Amateur
Driving Championship Series in Taranto, Italy. “That was very special. I had
the chance to drive against women for all over the world and it was very
exciting.
“It’s
all trotters and they race over a mile track and the surface is very similar to
ours. The biggest difference is that the trainers are actually on the track
during the warm-up and are constantly giving orders to the drivers. “It
happened to me the first race I drove over there, and finally he figured I
didn’t speak Italian and he just threw the lines at me.”
There
will be no such language barrier this weekend and it will be interesting to see
if another Cicely Coe-type tote explosion is in the cards.
