On Saturday, November 11, a Billings Trot was slated at two different racetracks; one for the Midwest region members at Dayton Raceway in Ohio, and another at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono for members of the series’ eastern region.
Joe Lee was victorious with Soul Train in a 1:57.4 clocking at Pocono Downs while Ned Hodkinson won the trot at Dayton Raceway with his own Mutinyonthebounty in a 1:58.4 clocking.
Lee went to post in an amateur race for the 79th time this year and the New York Yankee’s assistant locker room manager notched his 14th win this season.
In his contest, Lee got away softly from the pole position then picked up cover behind Bob Davis with Dizzy Rizzy as the field headed to the halfway point. But as they neared the third-quarter, Lee wheeled Soul Train three deep and they marched forward and at the top of the lane. Through the lane, Soul Train began to ease away from his competition and went on to a one-and-quarter length win. Second place in that $12,000 contest went to Aventure, driven by Tony Ciuffetelli, and Dizzy Rizzy hung on for the show dough.
The winner, owned by Blindswitch Racing, Good Friends Stable and Santo Farina, is trained by Al Annunziata. Sent off as the odds-on favourite, Soul Train paid $3.00.
Meanwhile, at Dayton Raceway in Ohio, hot-handed Hodkinson added to his Midwest-region point lead when he reigned Mutinyonthebounty to a wire-to-wire score.
Despite the challenges throughout, from the parked horses, Hodkinson managed to get away with fairly even fractions.
When the bunched field headed for home, Mutinyonthebounty held tough and managed to rebuff Fairground Drama, who was on his throat-latch throughout the final quarter. Kelly Walker finished third with Stemilt Touch.
"He's such a nice horse,"Hodkinson said, referring to Mutinyonthebounty."He's so handy and well-mannered and he loves to race."
Hodkinson owns and trains the winner, who returned a $10.40 win mutuel.
(With files from the CKG Billings)