It may be freezing outside, but the action at Woodbine Racetrack continues to be red hot, as another of the Woodbine Entertainment Group driver colony stalwarts is closing in on an important career milestone

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Veteran reinsman Rick Zeron, 53, is taking dead aim at 7,000 lifetime wins as 2010 begins. This past Sunday (January 3) at Woodbine, he scored two victories -- with Margarita Mary in the Lifetime Dream Series first leg, and with Professorsdapapers in the fifth race -- to bring his career total to 6993, just seven away from the magic number.

Zeron has scheduled five more drives on Thursday night at Woodbine, six more on Friday, and seven on Saturday night, giving him plenty of chances to add to his total.

“Seven thousand wins has been a goal of mine since I was a kid,” Zeron said. “When I started in this business we never dreamed of the purses we’ve got now, so I never really thought in terms of money won, I just thought 7,000 would be a really good goal to shoot towards. It’s kind of special to me to be so close to it. I’m kind of pumped, to tell you the truth – it takes a lot of work to get to this point.”

Zeron hurdled the 5,000 win mark in January 2003 and surpassed 6,000 in August 2006. In July 2007, he shot past $70 million in career earnings, celebrating the milestone at Mohawk. In 2009, he eclipsed $5 million in purses for the eighth consecutive year.

The flamboyant pilot, who scored his first career win in Montreal in 1975, is also a finalist for a 2009 O’Brien Award of Horsemanship, for his achievements both as a driver and a trainer. “That’s a really nice cap on it,” said Zeron, “to be nominated for that is recognition from your peers, the horsemen.”

(WEG)