When driver Joe Bongiorno hopped out of the sulky and walked into the winner’s circle of the Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace behind Evenin Of Pleasure Saturday night at Saratoga Raceway, it was a homecoming of sorts. The 24-year-old reinsman is a native of Colts Neck, N.J., near Freehold Raceway, but it was in Saratoga that Bongiorno’s driving career took off.
Bongiorno began driving horses professionally in 2010 at age 16, winning six of his first 14 races and earning $25,700. The next year, Bongiorno drove in 259 races at tracks all over the east coast. In 2012 when the young horseman began racing full time at Saratoga, he made 160 trips to the winner’s circle in 1,050 starts and earned $1,140,954.
Now a regular at the rich Yonkers and Meadowlands meetings, Bongiorno no longer frequents Saratoga. Standing at the edge of the half-mile stone dust track Saturday night, his maroon and gray colors splattered with the gray particulate, he thought back to his first good horse, Don’t Blame Her. Owned by Bongiorno’s mother Barbara, Don’t Blame Her won the local Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace 11 times from 2012 to 2013, putting Bongiorno on the map. Tragically, the mare died while in foal earlier this year when struck by lightning in her paddock.
“I was very fortunate, I’ve always been lucky to surround myself with successful people,” Bongiorno said. “The horse that really kickstarted my career was Don’t Blame Her. She was an unbelievable horse, God rest her soul. My parents got me horses to start me out and everything worked out. The main thing was I had a very good work ethic and I still do and I go where I have to go. I signed up to be in this business and it’s a tough business, but I love what I do.”
Evenin Of Pleasure is trained by Joe’s older sister Jenn. She left a job at the Meadowlands last June to undertake a training career. Teaming with her brother and with the backing of some of the game’s biggest owner’s, her stable has prospered. She’s won 106 races from 472 starts over the last year, earning $1,848,090.
“I felt like I was constantly at work just worrying about the horses I owned and talking to different trainers that I’m friendly with and wanting to learn more about that end of the game,” she said last November. “So really, I just took a leap of faith and I knew I would have the support of my brother, which is immense.
“I definitely feel I made the right decision. I go to work every day and I think I was at the point at The Meadowlands where it became a job for me, and now with what I’m doing, it’s not. I’m so passionate, I’m so happy. Every morning when I walk in, those horses are like kids to me. I love each and every one of them and they’re what makes me happy.”
For Joe, the relationship with his sister keeps him grounded and reminds him of what really matters in the sport. Prone to getting bogged down in the little things, the family connection makes him see the big picture.
“It’s just a very good thing. Once in a while you get caught up where it’s almost like a business thing, but then you take a step back and you’re arguing about something very small,” he said. “We couldn’t do it without her. You’re got back and we’re having little fights here and there, but you just go back and its family and we’re not always going to agree on everything, but we work well together, and we have great owners together and it’s been an unbelievable ride this year.”
Evenin Of Pleasure is the leader of Bongiorno’s stable. Owner Gestion Blais sent the son of Dragon Again to Bongiorno this year to target the George Morton Levy Series at Yonkers. The 8-year-old won a leg of the series and finished second in two others, but the grueling six-week series wasn’t to the stallion’s liking. He finished sixth in the $532,000 final April 21.
“Unfortunately, going into that Levy Final, he wasn’t as sharp as he is now,” Joe Bongiorno said. “He really got on a roll after that. He’s better off a week off and he had raced five or six consecutive weeks and that took a little bit of a toll on him. I think if he was as sharp as he is now going into that Levy, I really believe he would’ve had a shot that night.”
In his only other stakes appearance this year, Evenin Of Pleasure finished second, 8 lengths behind Gerrity opponent Rockin Ron in the $115,500 Camluck Classic at Western Fair. An ideal trip in the Gerrity helped Evenin Of Pleasure turn the tables on his rival.
At the start of the $260,000 Gerrity, Yannick Gingras sent Rockin Ron to the lead, clearing defending champion Bit Of A Legend. However, the race’s 8-5 favorite was met with the challenge of longshot Rodeo Romeo, who left from post seven with Billy Dobson in the sulky and applied pressure to the leader.
Gingras parked Rodeo Romeo out in a :26.2 opening quarter. The pair continued their battle to the half, clicking off a wicked :53.4 split. Bongiorno kept Evenin Of Pleasure in fourth, 3 1/4 lengths behind the cutthroat fractions.
“He’s on a loose line the entire mile until you call on him. I was a little concerned at the five-eighths. They were fast fractions, I was chasing a little bit just to keep up,” Bongiorno said.
Bongiorno edged Evenin Of Pleasure to the outside and followed Rodeo Romeo’s cover around the third turn. With 3 furlongs to pace, Bongiorno pulled Evenin Of Pleasure three wide. He leaned forward and back in the sulky, holding the lines high and going to the whip and Evenin Of Pleasure took off.
Evenin Of Pleasure assumed the lead past three-quarters in 1:21.3. Bongiorno continued imploring his mount around the final turn and Evenin Of Pleasure opened an insurmountable advantage. He cruised under the wire 5 1/2 lengths ahead of Bit Of A Legend, stopping the timer in 1:49.2, the third-fastest mile in the 77-year history of the raceway.
“He’s just a very fast horse. When I moved him, he just exploded. He was basically on his own, you just have to keep him to task because he will wait for other horses,” Bongiorno said. “That’s why I kept asking him through the turn, just to make sure we hit the stretch with open lengths. I knew halfway down the lane it was all over with and I let him let up on his own. If I pushed him, he might have gone forty-nine flat, but that stuff doesn’t matter to me.”
The Gerrity victory is Evenin Of Pleasure’s sixth win this year and the 33rd of his career. The $260,000 stakes boosted his earnings to $1,110,899. The Gerrity is biggest win of the stallion’s career and his first stakes win since capturing the Molson Pace in 2016.
“This is a great horse, he deserves every bit of success he gets, he’s a wonderful animal to be around and he’s really just a professional in every aspect,” Bongiorno said.
The Gerrity is the second Grand Circuit stakes Joe and Jenn Bongiorno have teamed to win this year. Last week, they captured the $189,750 Golden Girls at the Meadowlands with Diva’s Image, who came from last in the stretch to win the stakes at 32-1.
“These last two weekends were the big weekends I was looking forward to,” Bongiorno said. “I had Diva’s Image last week and she was unbelievable, and we had this race tonight and we got lucky again.”
