Although it wasn’t billed as such Thursday at Monticello Raceway was ‘amateur day at the races’ with three different amateur driving clubs presenting a race here.
They included the CKG Billings Series, the NAADA trotting series, and a pacing event from the Catskill Amateur Drivers Association. And despite the fact that most of the drivers were eligible to all three series races each had with different winners.
“Coach Paul” Minore won the Billings trot with Wygant Prince in 2:00 while Joe Lee was victorious in the NAADA trot with Tim Lizzie in a 2:02.4 clocking. And “Hurricane Hannah” Miller copped the CADA pacing event with Artistic Cruiser in 1:57.
In the Billings trot Minore took no prisoners when he gained command on the first turn and went down the road with Wygant Prince and they made every pole a winning one en route to a solid two length victory over Hannah Miller’s Pine Tab. Finishing third, some four lengths behind the winner, was Permanent Joy with “Rapid Robert” Krivelin at the controls.
“He was in over his head in his last two starts and I put him on the lead today because he likes the front end and he showed today why he does,” Minore said referring to Wygant Prince. And for Minore it was some kind of milestone for him having won a race in America and one in Hungary this past week. (Minore won a leg of the USA v Hungary Friendship Competition last Saturday at Kincsem Park in Budapest).
Dismissed by the bettors and sent off at odds of over 7-1 Wygant Prince paid $17.00 while winning for the fourth time this season. And it was Minore’s third driving victory this year and 90th of his amateur driving career.
The former high school track coach - whose most famous student was the Olympic champion Carl Lewis - owns the trotter who is trained by Taylor Gower.
However, in the NAADA trot Joe Lee and Tim Lizzie had the railbirds smiling even more when those who held winning tickets were rewarded with a $61.00 payoff.
After starting slowly Lee and Tim Lizzie were fifth at the first stanza but then went an overland trip and marched forward until they cleared the traffic and took command at the top of the lane. From there Tim Lizzie held off a charging Ladys Big Stormont (Alan Schwartz) to score a neck triumph. A length farther back in third was Perfect Road, in rein to Dein Spriggs.
“I got cover behind Bob Davis (with The B Street Fan) and he carried me to the final turn where I moved Tim Lizzie three-deep and went to the lead and then held off Schwartz’s trotter to win it,” Lee explained.
Tim Lizzie, a seven-year-old daughter of Tiny Tim, notched her fourth seasonal triumph for owner Woody Hoblitzell. She’s trained by Bruce Aldrich, Sr.
For Joe Lee, the New York Yankee’s assistant locker room manager, it was his 29th winning drive.
Not to be outdone, “Hurricane Hannah” Miller showed why she is the two-time defending National Amateur Driver of the Year when she sat back off speedy fractions and then rallied her pacer, Artistic Cruiser, to a three-length victory over Jennifer Lappe’s Fools Gold.
Lappe had cut speedy early fractions of :27.2, :57 and 1:26.4 before Miller came to pick up l the pieces. In that contest four of the seven drivers were ladies. But Joe Lee spoiled an all-lady Trifecta by getting TKRs Metro Specs up for the show dough.
“We were chasing Jennifer (Lappe with Fools Gold) from the start and we began gaining on her when we approached the three quarters. But when we started to round the final turn I wasn’t sure if we could catch her. But happily we did”, Miller said after the race.
It was the first seasonal triumph for Artistic Cruiser who returned a $7.90 mutuel. For Miller it marked her 19th seasonal driving victory and 92nd thus far in her short career.