Italian and American Amateurs Face-off at Freehold

Posted 10 days

The first two of ten races at Freehold Raceway on Friday, September 6, showcased four Italian amateur, or “gentleman” drivers racing against four American amateur drivers as one of the pit-stops on the Italians’ tour of America and American harness racing in celebration of the International Trot week.

The drivers hailing from Italy were Michele Bechis, Vittorio Bosia, Enrico Colombino, and Graziano Reggiani. The drivers representing the USA were John Calabrese, Paul Minore, Yogi Sheridan, and Matt Zuccarello. They faced off once at a trot and once at a pace; the horses they drove were drawn by lot.

In the trot leg, Paul Minore took control of the race, leading the field the entire way aboard Hold Me Closer- the lone mare in the field. He led by 3 3/4 lengths at the half and though his lead only got smaller after that, he managed to hold on to win by 1 ½ lengths with the Jenna Cornelison trainee.  Vittorio Bosia finished second with his mount. A late-charging John Calabrese caught up with Enrico Colombino to dead-heat for third.

Paul Minore went on to score a driving double on the card when he drove his own Pilsner Frosty to an upset victory in race six at 7-1.

The pace leg was a similar story although this time it was Matt Zuccarello with the wire-to-wire victory behind the Izzy Estrada trained Maddy N Maggie. Although the winner was clear (winning by over 16 lengths), the rest of the field still battled for second. Vittorio Bosia secured another second place finish impressively with his 41-1 shot Girl Almighty for trainer John Urbanski. John Calabrese and Enrico Colombino were close behind for third and fourth, respectively.

NAADA President and event organizer Joe Faraldo says, “This competition has been ongoing with the USA and Italy for over 35 years with intercontinental exchanges and many US amateurs experiencing the hospitality of our Italian friends. While it is quite an undertaking to hose foreign drivers, it is one our American horsemen have embraced and it is refreshing to see the support for this event by the Freehold horsemen.”

Freehold Raceway would like to thank the horsemen for allowing their horses to participate in this event and for being so welcoming to the guests. Live racing continues tomorrow (Sep. 7) starting at 12:30pm. Next week kicks off the first of five weeks of an extra day of racing each week- races will be held on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays now through October 10.