Contributed Story
MONTICELLO — April 27, 2010 — Billy “Zeke” Parker Jr. began the Monticello Raceway afternoon card of Thursday, April 22 needing only 26 more driving victories to reach the coveted milestone of 10,000 career wins and he really put on a show by winning six races on the afternoon card.
Parker, 56, started the day winning both ends of the early double. He won the first race, a trot, with Jennifer Lappe’s Wicked Winner in 2:02.3 and then won the next race, also a trot, with Bulletproof Enterprises’ Don’t Call Us in a time of 2:03.2.
Zeke’s next triumph came in race four when he guided Gene Taylor’s trotter The Prosecutor to a gate-to-wire 2:03 victory. He then won the sixth race with Brenda Messenger and Scott Woogen’s trotter Pleasant Spur in a 2:03:2 clocking and copped the seventh race behind Brian O’Neill’s Mr. Thinker in a 1:58.3 clocking. He then won the ninth with Evan Katz’s Mister Dale N in a time of 1:59.2 for win number six.
Always a man of few words, Parker didn’t expound much on his afternoon victories. Though most any other driver would be elated to have a five-bagger, Parker just seemed to take it in stride, which may not be such a big deal for a guy who won nine times on a 10-race card back on Oct. 20, 1996.
When asked how come he was so hot today, he just smiled and said, “Well, I didn’t win any [races] yesterday.”
When Zeke reaches the 10,000-win plateau, he’ll be joining just eight others who have driven 10,000 or more winners in their careers.