On Saturday, November 4, in an east region Billings trot at Yonkers Raceway, David Offenberg gave his own trotter, Fiji, a picture-perfect drive, rallying to a 1:59.2 victory.
“I had the four hole and when the starter let us go I grabbed the lead and then surrendered it to Tony Verruso with Flirting Duesy,” Offenberg said.
“We were going a pretty good clip (:28.2) so I was content to sit the pocket as Tony’s trotter cut the fractions and then up the backside endured a stiff challenge from Steve Oldford’s Gonna Fly who eventually gained command and on the final turn and began to pull away.
“When we headed for home I had daylight and Fiji proved to be the strong horse in the stretch and we went on to a length victory over Steve’s trotter.”
Flirtin Duesy held on for the show dough.
Fiji, a four-year-old Cantab Hall gelding, is owned by Offenberg’s Allister Stables and trained by Eric Abbatiello.
Although he has driven only 10 times this season, tonight’s win was the first of the year for Offenberg. But since he’s been participating in amateur racing, he's had 51 driving victories.
“To me it’s just a whole lot of fun being able to drive my own stock,” Offenberg said. “If you can’t have fun in harness racing you don’t belong doing it.”
(With files from the CKG Billings)