By John Manzi
MONTICELLO — October 17, 2003 – Greg Merton of Monticello put on a driving clinic Sunday afternoon, October 12 at Monticello Raceway by scoring six victories in seven drives on the 10-race card.
Merton, 29, a former Mighty M driving champion – he was the track’s leading driver three years ago – has had some good days in the sulky, but Sunday’s win total equals his most driving victories on a single program.
“Three years ago I won six races on the card, but I drove in 10 races that day,” he explained.
Merton, who hasn’t been getting as many catch-drives since Zeke Parker’s return, still had driven 94 winners in 471 starts this year prior to Sunday.
His first victory of the day came behind Car Lin Breezy To ($8.00) in 2:01.1 in the third race and then proceeded to notch five consecutive triumphs in races five through nine. He won race five with Shady Lane ($3.20) in 1:56.2; race six behind Niorhythm ($10.00) in 2:01; race seven with Wise Guy ($32.00) in 1:58.3; race eight with Chatham Hoochie ($3.00) in 1:58 and capped the afternoon by reining Aquila Nero ($5.00) to a 1:59 victory in race nine.
“I thought I had a chance to win a few races [on Sunday] because I had quite a few live mounts,” Merton said. “But I was surprised by Wise Guy’s victory in the winners over pace. He’s been pretty sharp lately [three wins and two seconds in his last five starts] but usually he only likes being on the front-end and that he won out of a hole surprised me.”
Not training a stable and only catch-driving, Merton relies on the local trainers for mounts.
“I really want to thank the trainers for putting me up [to drive],” Merton added. “I appreciate a chance to drive their horses and feel great when I’m able to produce [good results] for them.”