by John Manzi, for the Delvin Miller Amateur Drivers’ Association

At the Darke County Fair in Greenville Ohio an unusual circumstance has arrived precipitating and unorthodox solution.

Byzaz and Another Lindy, two high class trotters both jointly owned by Dein ‘the Jupiter Gem” Spriggs and Ned “the Hilliard Hotshot” Hodkinson and trained by Hodkinson ,will battle in a non-wagering match race after the final race on the program Thursday at Greenville.

According to Peter Gerry, president of the Delvin Miller Amateur Driving Association who annually sponsor the Billings Amateur Driving Series, the racing committee considered many factors before reaching the final decision of having Byzanz and Another Lindy face-off in a match race.

“We weighed all our options as we tried to accommodate all concerned : the racetrack in Greenville, the amount of horses that would be able to start on the six-wide oval; and both Spriggs and Hodkinson and we deemed our best solution was to have a match race,” Gerry said.

As Peter Gerry explained:

“In an effort to try to take fairness in competition to a higher level than heretofore achieved in the Billings Series, one of the divisions in the Billings Series leg being contested at the Darke County Fair in Greenville, Ohio on Thursday, August 25^th will be a match race.

Yes this will be a first in Billings Series competition and will be a flashback to the late 19th Century when the Mr. Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings frequently challenged other gentleman drivers in match race competition. In Mr. Billings case, however, there was no purse money posted.

The match race will pit two driving tigers driving two very good horses at a mile distance for a “winner-take-all” purse of $500 and, of course, bragging rights for the rest of the millennium. The winner will be awarded the same number of points the winners of the other two Billings Series leg winning drivers will each earn.

The winning driver will also be awarded the privilege of kicking the losing driver’s butt publicly in the winners circle!

Pitted against each other are Dein “the Jupiter Gem” Spriggs who’ll drive Byzanz and Ned “the Hilliard Hot-Shot” Hodkinson with Another Lindy.

While maybe not in the same league as the Seabiscuit versus War Admiral contest of several years back, it promises to be an exciting and unusual event and something that will be talked about in Ohio for years to come.”

The Match Race will be contested immediately following the 11th race on the pari-mutuel program.