Stratton on his way to capturing Monticello dash title

In just his second full year of driving, 21-year-old Jordan Stratton, with 315 wins, leads the driving colony at Monticello Raceway and his lead is probably insurmountable, since runner-up Bruce Aldrich Jr. only has a total of 206.

However, Stratton has been doing double duty most of the year, racing at Monticello in the afternoon and at Yonkers Raceway during the evening. And when his driving victories at Yonkers are added to those at the Mighty M the talented youngster thus far has 531 wins for the season, a number which ranks him fifth best in North America.

Stratton put on a driving clinic Monday, Nov. 3, when he reined five winners on the card and hardly a day goes by without him reining at least two winners.

Over the years Monticello Raceway has had an abundance of driving talent and many of harness racing's stars have either begun their careers here or honed their talents on the Mighty M double oval. Some that immediately come to mind include Carmine Abbatiello, Billy Popfinger, Cat Manzi, Eddie Lohmeyer, Luc Ouellette, Pat Lachance and Billy Parker Jr.

And this year is no exception.

Parker, who is known as "Zeke" on the backstretch, is ninth in races won all-time in the sport. Currently Zeke has reined 9,486 winners and at age 56 he shows no signs of slowing down. Though his output over the past few seasons isn’t what it was when he notched 13 driving titles here, the bearded one will still win over 225 races again this season.

Besides the aforementioned Stratton, Aldrich and Parker other talented regulars here include Greg Merton, his brother Mike Merton, Mike Forte, Kyle DiBenedetto, and Jimmy “the Mighty Mite” Marohn.

Aldrich, 40, has won driving titles here in recent years as has Greg Merton. Aldrich, with 233 overall winners thus far this season, has 2,613 in his career and Greg Merton, 34, with 194 seasonal wins, has a career total of 2,620.

Mike Forte, 50, who also does double duty at Monticello and Yonkers has 239 winners this year and 2,430 lifetime.

Mike Merton, 36, Greg’s older brother, also knows his way around the racetrack. With 143 winners under his belt this season he currently has a career total of 1,564.

Former Mighty M driving champ Kyle DiBenedetto, 41, who began his career here when he was just 18 years of age, now has 4,823 lifetime driving victories, of which 140 are from this year alone. And Jimmy Marohn, 61, a veteran like Parker, has reined 5,057 career winners and, despite missing seven weeks this season due to a broken collarbone, still has 117 this season.

Stephane Bouchard, 42, a national season's leader when he won 617 times in 2000 and a Mighty M driving champ in 2006, still races here frequently and has 89 wins at Monticello and 492 overall this year. Hot-handed newcomer Jason Bartlett, the driving leader at Yonkers Raceway, is currently fourth nationally in races won during the 2008 campaign with 559, of which 58 were registered here.

And 26-year-old Jimmy Marohn Jr., who was the recipient of the Monticello-Goshen Chapter USHWA’s Rising Star Award, already has 874 lifetime winners and 145 this year. The younger Marohn has shown he can hold his own no matter where he races.

However, one must include the exploits of career horseman John Gilmour, who won seven driving titles at the Mighty M over the years. Now in the twilight of his career, Gilmour, 70, still competes with regularity and has amassed a total of 4,454 victories, most of which came at Monticello Raceway.

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