And not to be outdone by the boys Michelle The Belle" Ruvola took home the trophy after winning the Bronze Cup Final.

Verruso, up behind Dave Carter's My Victory Song , sat a perfect pocket trip behind "Trader Bud" Hatfield, with the betting favorite Done Dreamen, and waited until the top of the lane to challenge the leader and when he did My Victory Song rallied to victory in the 1-1/4 mile Gold Cup Championship Final which was clocked in 2:30:3.

Kelly "Sky" Walker and Rush N Supreme, who trotted an overland trip the entire way, still had some trot at the end and photo-ed out Done Dreamen for second place.

Verruso, from Whitestone NY , owner of a specialty embroidery company and a 11-year Billings member, was understandably overjoyed with his victory.

"It was the first time I sat behind My Victory Song and after we went a mile I thought he was done but when I asked him for more he responded and half way down the stretch I knew we were a winner," Verruso told The Meadows publicist, Evan Pattak after the race.

The race for the Billings Silver Cup over the same 1-1/4 mile distance was quite different in that instead of following the eventual winner Bob Miller, used the front end en route to a 2:31:4 victory .

When the gate folded Miller, who subbed for his wife Patricia "the Write Stuff" Miler, sent Starry Knight to the lead and they traveled unchallenged throughout most of the 1-1/4 mile distance though in the deep stretch Dean "What Am I Bid" Beachy and Quantum King Leo came charging but they ran out of racetrack and had to settle for second money. DW'sPerky Joe took home the show dough for Gregg "Fast Greggy" Keidel.

"My wife Pat prepped him and drove him all summer but she gave up the drive for me since my trotter in the Bronze Cup was scratched," Miller, a retired engineer from Williamston, Michigan said after his first time behind the winning trotter. "And now we are both very happy."

The one mile $7500 Bronze Cup Final was raced as a non-wagering affair prior to the betting card getting underway. Michelle Ruvola, the Vice President of Strategic Development and Planning at her family owned premier janitorial supplies company headquartered in Chicago, was victorious with Sorce Of Victory which marked her second consecutive season winning a Billings Championship Final. Last December at the Meadowlands Ruvola won the Silver Cup Championship Final with Spit Happens, another trotter who is owned by her parents George and Rose Bonomo.

However, it took a few minutes to decide that Ruvola was the winner because she and Bob "Lumberman" Troyer, with Candacraigh, nearly hit the finish line simultaneously but upon the judges viewing the print Sorce of Victory was posted the short-nose winner. Double A, with "Dynamite Dave Drew aboard rambled home third best in the 2:01:2 trotted mile.

And oddly, Ruvola got the chance to drive Sorce Of Victory when her dad gave up the mount after the trotter Michelle was to drive, Spit Happens, got scratched .

Ruvola also pursues another passion as a Hollywood Harley Davidson motorcycle stunt rider with her husband Len. Though she drives in the Billings sparingly during the season her victory was her fourth in seven seasonal starts.

John Manzi