Zeke Parker packs six-pack at Monticello

Zeke is up to his old tricks…tricks that earned him 13 driving titles here at Monticello Raceway. Two weeks ago Billy Parker, Jr. won five races on the Monday card and on Monday again he not only showed shades of his old self but proved that age is no deterrent after he drove six winners on the 13-race card.

Skunked in the first few races, Parker began his assault in the  third when he reined Scenic View Farms' Passion For Life to a 2:01.3 wire-to-wire triumph. His next victory came in  race seven when he snuck up the pylons to score a 1:59.2 victory with  Preyingondaylight, a pacer whose ownership he shares with  Charles Lewis.

However, beginning in the 10^th race Zeke won the last four races on the card.

He scored a come-from-behind win in the 10^th race trot with Scott Woogen and Brenda Messenger’s Sandy Hoofprints in a time of 2:03.1 and came back in the 11^th to rein Patrick Celia’s 4-year-old pacing mare Cocoa Myria home first in a time of 2:00.

Then in race number 12 Parker sent the favorite Sports Ball to the front and made every pole a winning one to score victory number five in a 1:59 clocking for owner Vincent Grippa.

But Parker wasn’t done yet. Though his pacer, Button Road, was collared in the deep stretch by Moonlit Tori (Jimmy Taggart Jr.), the Vincent Grippa-owned Button Road came back in the final strides to score a 1:58.3 victory.

Prior to the afternoon race card, Kyle DiBenedetto had a two-win lead on Parker for leading driver honors and despite the fact that DiBenedetto won three races on the program Parker’s six wins vaulted him to the top on the local leaderboard.

A man of very few words when contacted about his big day in the sulky, Zeke said stoically, “I guess I just got lucky.” (Monticello)

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