by John Manzi, for the Billings Series

Monticello, NY — Harness racing’s greatest traveling roadshow, the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series, moved to Ontario with a race at Flamboro Downs this past Sunday (Sept. 13) and two at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday (Sept. 14).

A different winner emerged in each event — “Bullet Bob” Davis and “Racin Jason” Sgrignuoli at Mohawk and Bobby “Rapid Rail” Krivelin at Flamboro.

It marked the second time in the last three weeks that a contingent of Billings members traveled north of the border to Canada to compete. And for some it meant long rides in automobiles to get to their venues.

Take Bob Davis, for instance. He traveled seven hours one way from his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to race at Flamboro and Mohawk. And by his own admission he drove 15 hours — one way — to race on Prince Edward Island on Aug. 30.

However, Davis’ traveling these past few days wasn’t in vain. He won a decisive 1:58.4 victory with Blush And Crush at Mohawk on Monday night.

“And I finished third with a 55-1 shot from the eight hole at Flamboro on Sunday,” Davis interjected.

But the cream rose to the top Monday at Mohawk when, despite being told to keep his trotter off the gate, Davis gunned Blush And Crush to the lead and played catch me if you can.

“Surprisingly I got away with soft fractions of :30 and 1:01.3,” Davis said from his car on his way home to Saratoga last night. “And when I pulled the (ear) plugs after the half my horse opened a three length lead and we coasted home an easy winner.”

“Hurricane Hannah” Miller, whose mounts seems to take money in the wagering pools no matter where she races, finished second with favored Utopia. Third place went to Excuse Me Please, driven by “Racin’ Jason” Sgrignuoli.

Blush And Crush, owned by Leo Racicot, paid $6.80 for win.

Despite getting home at 3 a.m., Davis made it to work at his home improvement business later that morning.

Jason Sgrignuoli’s victory was similar to that of Bob Davis. But Sgrignuoli, who drove seven hours from Montreal to compete in the Billings trots in Ontario, had a tougher time gaining command with his trotter, E L Rock, in his split.

“I started slowly from the three hole looking for a pocket but none developed. So I floated to the lead which Bob Krivelin (who was on the front end) didn’t seem to want to relinquish,” Sgrignouli said. “We finally cleared and once on top we never had any challenges and were home easy winners.”

They finished six lengths ahead of Cimeronken and driver Dave “Modern Legend” Drew in that 1:56.1 trotted mile. Kelly “Sky” Walker took home the show dough with Rush N Supreme.

It was Sgrignouli’s fifth drive of the season and for the master electrician, it was his first win in 2015.

Owned by Mark Herlihy and Robert Lovett, E L Rock paid $20.20 for win.

And on Sunday (Sept. 13) at Flamboro, Bobby “Rapid Rail” Krivelin scored a hard fought victory with Empire Strikesback in a time of 2:01 when they held off a fast closing Blazing Shot who was driven by “Handy Dan” St Pierre. Bob Davis finished third with New Favorite.

Owned by Alan Fair, Empire Strikesback returned a $14.90 win mutuel.

Later this week the Billings Series returns to the States with action at Freehold Raceway on Saturday and at Delaware, Ohio on Sunday.