$18,000 1st prize for Tioga driving tourney

June 21, 2007

Tioga Downs will play host to its first annual Driver�s Championship on Sunday, July 29, with the top seven money-winning drivers in North America along with the leading money-winning driver at Tioga Downs and one sponsors' exemption to be invited to participate.

The Driver�s Challenge will span six to eight races on the card, with only overnight races being used for the competition. If a driver declines or is unable to participate in the event, Tioga Downs management will then invite the next driver on the earnings list as of July 15. There will be nine horses in each Driver�s Championship race and drivers will earn points based upon the official order of finish. First place will receive 6 points, second place will receive 5 points, third place will receive 3 points, fourth place will receive 2 points, and fifth place will receive 1 point, six through ninth will receive zero points.

A regular draw will be conducted to give each horse in the field their post position, then the driver�s names will be drawn to designate which horse they will drive in the given field. In the case there is a dead heat (for example dead heat for first place), both drivers will receive 6 points and then the points will go from third down. If a horse is scratched out or any driver has to sit out, they will automatically receive two points.

The driver with the most points at the end of the Driver�s Championship will receive a cash prize of $18,000; second place will receive $ 5,000, third place $ 3,000, and fourth through ninth $ 1,000 each.

Drivers will still earn their five percent for the Driver�s Championship races, but Tioga Downs' management will ask the drivers to donate their five percent earned in the championship races to a charity of their choice and Jeff Gural, chairman of American Racing and Entertainment, the operator of Tioga Downs, will match what they donate to the particular charity.

Before the first leg of the Driver�s Championship, each driver will be introduced to the fans and will be available for autographs. After the last leg of the championship each driver will be invited to the winner's circle to receive their check.

Tioga Downs would like to thank each of the following sponsors for their support of this event: All Events Engraving, Blue Chip Farm, Delaware County Fair, Embroidery Unlimited, The Horseman and Fair World magazine, LP Ciminelli, MH EBY Trailers, NTRA-HTA Purchasing Program, Oneida Print Shop, Panda Air, Southern Tier Harness Horsemen�s Association, Tioga Downs, Towne Law Office, Tracy Yeagle Hay and Straw, and Youbet.com.

�This event is exciting to all of us at Tioga Downs, we will have the best drivers in the world competing on this day in one of the most if not the most lucrative driver�s championship�s I have ever seen in the sport of harness racing," said Jason Settlemoir, Tioga's vice president of racing and simulcast. "Dustin Ross (Racing Operations Manager) came up with the idea and put it together all I did was seek sponsorships and he even got one of those too. We put this event on a day where there were no real big competing stakes events so all the top drivers could make it. On this day we will have six to eight overnight races along with New York Sires Stakes races as well, so the day will be fun and produce a lot of enthusiasm at Tioga Downs." (Tioga Downs press release)

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