After winning the first four legs of the East-West Challenge on Friday night and holding a commanding lead, the amateur squad from Cal-Expo managed to rebound after losing some of that lead in leg five and ultimately defeat the Eastern team comprised of some of the top Billings drivers with a final score of 179-112.
The evening opened with Team West sporting a 60 point advantage after Dave Siegel went four-for-four in a Western sweep on Friday night. Down, but not out, Team East had little mercy on their hosts finishing 1-2 in Saturday’s opener with George Bonomo pulling Village Benjamin ($23.40) before the half and going two deep at the three-quarters pole to swoop the field and onto victory with the Gene Vallandingham trained gelding. Teammate Bob Krivelin picked up second place money and Team East was back was within striking distance. Team West rallied back though in the sixth leg with Rick Bertrand executing a backside brush with Lust and never looked back. Teammate Karen Isbell finished second with Drawing Dead, giving the Left Coasters an insurmountable 131-76 lead.
In the penultimate leg of the event, Michelle Ruvola of Team East guided Yourmyaddiction ($17.20) to an easy three length lead to match her dad’s win of four races earlier. The two Chicago drivers equaled each other with a win apiece. George enjoyed family bragging rights for only about an hour!
The series finale saw Dave Siegel guide Hello Sevens for a wire-to-wire victory with the East’s Dein Spriggs finishing second to bring the curtain down on the eighth annual event and giving the West a series margin of 6-2.
However, while the home team prevailed, the big winner was the Sacramento Horsemen’s Association, a local organization dedicated to pleasure riders in the greater Sacramento area. Faced with some tough economics, the group has undertaken a drive to raise $50,000 and the series raised $3,000 toward this goal. Chris Schick and Ben Kenny of Watch and Wager, operators of the meet at Cal-Expo, presented a check to the organization in the winner’s circle after the final leg of the event.
Amateur Club president, Dave Siegel, had the following to say. “We always enjoy hosting this event. The visiting group were excellent drivers and more importantly, really wonderful people. They all contribute heavily to the sport in their roles as major horse owners and are involved in their local racing organizations. We got to share some meals and some time exploring the 'underground' city of Old Sacramento with our comrades from the other side of the county. It is these relationships that make amateur driving so very special. Amateur events are key to keep folks like us interested in remaining owners and the tracks and horsemen that support our racing understand that.”
He went on in closing, “I cannot tell you how thankful we are to management here, and in particular to Ben [Kenney] and Chris [Schick] for the tremendous support and to race secretary Fred Kuebler for putting together such competitive races. Getting eight races with such balanced fields is a feat in itself and we are grateful for the cooperation by management and horsemen for supporting this annual event.”
(California Amateur Driving Club)