Morgan drives grand winner

Harness racing’s leading driver Tony Morgan became only the second reinsman in the history of the sport to reach the 1,000 win plateau in a single season with a victory behind trotting mare Eden Roc in the second race at Northfield Park on Friday night, Dec. 29.

The 49-year-old Morgan, a winner of nearly 11,000 races and over $73 million in purses lifetime, is enjoying the finest season of his career in 2006. Only Walter Case, Jr., who tallied a record 1,077 driving wins in 1998, had ever eclipsed the 1,000 win plateau in a single season until Morgan’s spectacular 2006 campaign.

After dominating the Illinois circuit for over a decade, Morgan has moved his home base to the slot-fueled tracks of the Mid-Atlantic states this season with amazing success.

“Things have worked out great for me since the move to the East Coast,” said Morgan in the winner's circle after his 1,000th victory. “The purses are so much higher than in the Midwest, and I have been able to pick up a lot of live drives.”

With many tracks dark for the remainder of 2006, Morgan sought drives at Northfield on Thursday and Friday night to try and reach the 1,000 victory mark. He scored six times on the Thursday night Northfield card to raise his win total to 999, and notched number 1,000 behind Mark Sundstrom trainee Eden Roc (owned by John Kruszewski and John Schultz) in his first drive on Friday night’s program (his scheduled charge in the first race was scratched).

Reaching the milestone in Ohio also allowed dozens of Morgan’s family and friends to join him in the winner's circle.

The Troy, Ohio native will donate all of his driver’s fees from the past two nights to pay for a paddock party for Northfield horsemen on Monday night, Jan. 8, when the Ohio State Buckeyes play Florida in the BCS Championship college football game.

Northfield has live racing that evening, and thanks to Morgan’s generosity, local horsemen will be well fed and able to watch the Buckeyes on a big screen television.

Morgan's 10,860 career wins puts him fourth all-time behind Herve Filion (15,165), Cat Manzi (12,136), and Walter Case Jr. (11,028).

(Northfield)

« Back