On the strength of victories by Bob Davis and Tony Ciuffetelli, the United States jumped out to a lead over the visiting New Zealanders in the first leg of the three-track International Amateur Driving Competition, held at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Sunday afternoon (October 15).
Davis lit up the tote board when his 28-1 shot Trey was placed first after Battleshoe Tom (Ciuffetelli) was disqualified for a racing infraction. However, Ciuffetelli returned to the winner’s circle for good in the second event, when he reined Docs Boy to a head decision over the Kiwi’s Colleen Negus.
When Battleshoe Tom went off stride at the start, he interfered with Hillbilly Cashflow driven by New Zealand’s Mike Maynard and caused confusion with the majority of the field. But Davis circled the trouble and went to the lead in front of Cuiffetelli’s pacer. They then raced one-two until the stretch, when Battleshoe Tom took command and was the first horse under the wire with Trey finishing behind him. However, the judges’ decision placed Battleshoe Tom out of the money, allowing Trey to be declared the winner. LMC Nuclear Strike and American Alan Schwartz were moved up to second, while Shaguar (Negus) were awarded third money.
The winner, owned by Anthony Cerbone, Jr. and trained by Lisa Zabielski, returned $58.00, $13.20, and $11.80 across the board. It was the second consecutive driving victory for Bob Davis, having won an amateur contest at Monticello Raceway five days ago.
Ciuffetelli made amends in the second split, when he guided Docs Boy home first despite being parked to the half before finding room along the pylons in third position. Around the final turn, Ciuffetelli set sights on pacesetter Mr Butterworth (Negus). In the deep stretch, under strong urging, Docs Boy got up in the final strides for a head decision. Third place went to Cabo San Lukas and New Zealand’s Gavin Cook.
The winner, owned by Brett Derue and Garry Simzer and trained by Derue, paid $7.10 to win.
For the fourth time this year, the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) has been involved in an international amateur driving competition. This is the first against the New Zealanders since last fall, when they traveled Down Under to compete.
The races today will be followed by similar events at Yonkers Raceway on Tuesday (October 17) and Monticello Raceway on Wednesday (October 18).
(NAADA)