There will be
four Challenge races on Friday, going as the fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth
events on the evening, with another four clashes on Saturday to decide the
bragging rights. The Sire Stakes contests will go as non-betting events prior
to the regular card with More Tequila and Strings seeking encores in their
respective divisions.
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.
Dein Spriggs was born in
Xenia Ohio, moved to DeLeon Springs, Florida at the age of six and ultimately
landing in Jupiter, Florida. At the age of 16 he drove in his first race at the
fairs of Pennsylvania. In 1998 Dein joined the Delvin Miller Harness Drivers
Association. After an uneventful racing start in the late 80s and early 90s,
Dein came through with a three year stretch of gold. That is, making it to the
Billings Gold Cup Final with two first-place finishes and one second in 2004
2005, and 2006.
He captured the Tim Fouts
Memorial both in 2002 and 2011 while representing The Florida Amateur Driving
Club, for where he currently presides as the president. Family members that
share Dein’s passion for racing include father William “Bill” and brother
Steve. Steve was a well known California harness driver in the late 1970’s and
1980’s. To help support Dein’s love of harness racing, he works as a private
real estate investor and consultant.
Bob "Rapid Rail"
Krivelin, so named for his driving his own filly Rapid Rail to an elimination
victory in the 2003 Hambletonian Oaks and a second-place finish in the final.
Krivelin learned horsemanship under the guidance of some of the top trainers in
the sport, traveling to the Meadowlands to train every day starting in 1995.
He was named national amateur
driver of the year in 2001 and again this year. He is the owner of Woolco
Foods, a wholesale food distribution company which serves the five NYC
boroughs. Bob lives in the cradle of harness racing in Goshen where he owns
several horses. He currently has seven horses in training at Goshen Historic
Track.
George Bonomo is a business person with interests
nationally and internationally. He has been involved in the Standardbred and
Thoroughbred industries since 1976 as owner and breeder. George was the
co-founder and President of the Midwest Amateur Driving Association (MADA) and
began his amateur driving career in 1998.
George has particularly enjoyed his participation in international
competitions, taking him to, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Italy.
Mr. Bonomo is an active participant in the Billings series
racing at many tracks including Yonkers, The Meadowlands, The Red Mile,
Balmoral, and during Little Brown Jug week. Out of the bike, he has served as
president of Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association and is a board member of
the Illinois Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association.
Under the banner of the “family that races together stays
together,” George is married to Rosie, a former MADA champion, has a son
Michael, and daughters JoAnn and Michelle.
Michelle is a former MADA champion, who in 2012 represented the USA in
the Women's International Amateur Driving Championship in Taranto, Italy
A
Mid-westerner, Michelle Ruvola has been married to husband Len for 23 years and
has two children Lauren (21) and Zack (18). Her professional life consists of
being Vice-President of The Standard Companies, a family-owned, national
supplier of Sanitation/Maintenance supplies and systems. For the past sixteen
years, Michelle’s “fun life” and passion is driving and training harness race horses.
She
has come a long way since her first race over a local county fair track when
she was too nervous to eat and her mouth was too dry to talk! Her rush comes
from the excitement from piloting these equine athletes at speeds of some 30
miles per hour while sitting three feet above the ground, in close quarters
with other competitors and their steeds.
That joy is only exceeded by those instances where you are the victor
with an "explosion of happiness".
One
of Michelle’s greatest thrills was winning a race at Sacramento in the
East/West Series Challenge at odds of 75 to 1 back in 2007. Michelle was
honored as the 2012 U.S. representative at the Women's International Amateur
Driving Championship Series in Taranto, Italy. She credits her father for
giving her the opportunities to be involved in this exciting sport - and for
being a "friendly" and "challenging" competitor.
Chris
Schick is the general manager of Watch and Wager LLC at Cal Expo. He stated,
“We are very happy to continue to support the Challenge as our predecessors
have done for the last several years. Watch and Wager LLC is also proud to
partner with the Billings and California amateurs to support a needy local
horse related charity.
“I
am keenly aware of how much diversity amateur driving brings to our program out
here and all over North America. We are particularly appreciative of the
Billings group traveling such a long distance to support this unique series.”
TrackMaster
will be providing Racing Fans free programs and selections for the two-day
event on their web site.
For information about the
California Amateur Driving Club, the Challenge or Amateur Driving in general,
please visit www.thecadc.com
REDUCED TAKEOUT WAGERS OVER REAL VALUE
There are three wagers
offered at Cal Expo that feature a reduced 16 percent takeout rate and also
have carryover provisions. They are the 50-cent Pick 5, which starts on the
third race and comes with a $20,000-guaranteed pool on Friday and a $25,000
guarantee on Saturday; the $1 Pick 4 on the penultimate four races on the
program; and the 10-cent High 5 that takes place on the finale.
To put things into
perspective, take a look at last Saturday night’s Pick 5. The sequence started
with a 7-5 and an even-money winner, then got much more interesting when Chip
Lackey guided Southwind Sydney to a $39 surprise for Lisa Caposio. A 7-2 and a
4-1 shot followed, including Cycle Power in the Lloyd Arnold Pace for Nathalie
Tremblay and pilot Scott Cisco.
The payoff in the Pick 5 was
a juicy $7,209 for half a buck. Using the regular takeout, that return would
have been $6,436, a difference of $773 per winning ticket. Who couldn’t use
that extra money these days?
By the way, congratulations
to Scott Cisco for not only winning the Lloyd Arnold with Cycle Power, but
guiding El Azteca to a game come-from-behind victory in the Stan Bergstein Trot
on Friday night for Marco Rios. It was quite a weekend.
