by John Manzi, for the North American Amateur Drivers Association
Yonkers, NY-- Two $8000 non-betting trotting
divisions for amateur drivers were presented tonight at Yonkers Raceway prior
to the betting card getting underway and when the judges posted the results
Tony Verruso had reined the winner in the first split and Dave Offenberg won the
second. Verruso, who's enjoying his finest year in the sulky, went wire to wire
for a 1:58.1 triumph with Exarch in the first split while Offenberg aped that
journey behind Fiji for a 1:59.1 triumph in the other.
Both races were presented prior to the betting
card getting underway
In his split Verruso sent Exarch immediately to
the lead and they had two lengths on a parked-out Raceace(Alan Schwartz) when
they trotted by the first quarter in :28.3. Still on the limb the order
remained the same when the trotters passed the half in :58.4.
“I think Schwartz was trying to keep his horse
trotting since he had made brakes in his previous starts,”Verruso said. “But he
kept coming at me past the three quarters in 1:27.4 and all the way around the
far turn and into the stretch.”
And when they turned for home Tony Ciuffetelli
rushed Golden Kronos into contention and all three trotters headed for paydirt
nearly side-by- side. But in the deep stretch Exarch proved to be the best and
trotted off to a solid one-length triumph in 1:58.1. Raceace hung on for second
money, a head better than Golden Kronos.
The winner, a 6-year-old Cantab Hall gelding, is
owned by Fortune Valley Stable ad trained by Sean Campbell. For Verruso, it was
his sixth driving victory of the season and 88th of his amateur
career.
Dave Offenberg had little trouble in the other
division after he sent Fiji to the lead when the wings of the starting gate
folded. Once on top Offenberg put it in cruise-control and Fiji trotted through
fractions of :29; :59.4: and 1:28.2 before drawing off to an easy victory over
Possess The Stone who was driven by Joe Faraldo. Third money in the short
four-horse field was garnered by Stealing (Matt Zuccarello).
The winner, an 8-year-old Cantab Hall gelding is
owned by Offenberg's Allister Stables LLC and trained by Noel Daley.
