by John Manzi, for the Delvin Miller Amateur Drivers Association

Monticello, NY — Frank Tingley is a happy man. Once again the C.K.G. Billings Harness Driving Championship Series, the Grand Circuit of Amateur Driving, will make a stop at the Afton (NY) Fair on Thursday afternoon (July 21).

Because of Tingley’s steadfast efforts harness racing continues at the little country fair in the community of Afton, some 40 miles northeast of Binghamton, just off Interstate 88. The track has sponsored racing there since the late 1800s.

Tingley, from a long line of harness horsemen, is in the process of preparing the racetrack for the upcoming 14-race card in which the Billings Harness Driving Championship Series Trot will be among the featured events.

The Billings Trot, race number eight on the card, will be a five-horse contest and race for a purse of $3,000.

Among the drivers making the trip are David “Steady As” Yarock and “Lightning Laura” MacNamara. Yarock, a financial planner by trade has 63 points and is currently third on the Eastern Region leaderboard while MacNamara, a riding instructor, has 53 points which ranks her fifth on the list.

Joining them on the racetrack that afternoon will be Gerry “the Catskill Cat” Fielding, a skiing instructor and a charter member of the Billings Series, and George “the Brooklyn Cowboy” Casale, an attorney. Both will move up in the standings upon completion of this trotting race. Currently Fielding, with 20 points, is 15th on the eastern leaderboard while Casale’s 15 points ranks him 17th.

The final entrant is “Cowboy Eric” Taddeo, a New York City firemen by trade, who will be making just his third start in Billings competition this year.

Post time for the Afton Fair race card is at 1 p.m.