Freehold, NJ — This week, Rosecroft Raceway and Freehold Raceway hosted a challenge which pitted four drivers from each track against each other in a challenge to win points based on where they finished. They faced each other four times at Rosecroft and four times at Freehold. Each driver had each post position one time throughout the challenge and the horses that they drove were determined randomly. The Rosecroft representatives were William Carter, Eric Davis, Declan Donoway and Trae Porter. The Freehold representatives were Johnathan Ahle, Vinny Ginsburg, Mark Herschberger and Tyler Miller.

Ginsburg had a strong start at the Rosecroft leg on Thursday (Dec. 14) as he had two wins, a fifth, and a sixth. This gave him 109 points. Trae Porter was only one point behind him.

The remainder of the challenge took place at Freehold Saturday (Dec. 16). Ginsburg didn’t start the day as successfully as he did with his opening win at Rosecroft. Instead, he placed fourth and fifth in the first two challenge races of the day. Pressure was growing for Ginsburg as he still led with 122 points but Ahle, Porter and Miller were close behind with 114, 113 and 100 points, respectively.

Vel Big Bruiser sealed victory in the Rosecroft-Freehold Driving Challenge for Vinny Ginsburg. Katie Eick photo.

Ginsburg responded with a strong finish in the last two races. In the penultimate challenge race, he steered Needless To Say from post eight for trainer Pauline McDonald. Despite getting away last, Ginsburg managed to turn things around. With a gutsy move in the final turn, going three-wide around the field and closing hard, he passed all but one horse in the tightly-packed field and managed to get second place for 25 more points. Tyler Miller placed finished with Stews Watching and overtook Ginsburg by three points, 150-147.

Heading into the final challenge race, Miller, Ginsburg, Ahle and Porter all were in contention to win, each with over 100 points. Ginsburg left from post two with Vel Big Bruiser for trainer Anthony Romano Jr. and captured the early lead after a brief duel with Trae Porter and It’s Above Me Now, who eventually settled in second behind them. He continued to set the pace, put up fractions of :28, :58.1 and 1:27.3, and continued to lead the way to the wire in 1:56.3. He won the race and won the challenge with a total of 197 points and took home a $1,000 prize in addition to his purse earnings.

The final point earnings were as follows:

1. Vinny Ginsburg – 197
2. Tyler Miller – 162
3. Trae Porter – 143
4. Johnathan Ahle – 134
5. Eric Davis – 93
6. Mark Herschberger – 79
7. Declan Donoway – 52
8. William Carter – 30

Ginsburg continued his win streak with two more wins in the late double.

Live racing at Freehold returns next week on Friday (Dec. 22) and Saturday (Dec. 23) starting at 12:30 p.m.