The warm weather in the northeastern United States this year has presented some strange winter days. A lack of any significant snow and an increase of rain just made driving over the 'muddy' racetrack at Monticello Raceway on Monday, January 23 a task in itself.

With soft rain steadily falling, negotiating around the racetrack and seeing exactly where one was going called for strict concentration to the business at hand.

Take Billy Dobson for instance: He barely had time to clear the mud from his eyes between the 10 races which he was programmed to drive in on Monday. Although the going was extra tough, Dobson remarkably steered five winners on the card.

Dobson won Race 3 with Oh I Wish (in 2:04.1), Race 4 with Flak Jacket N (2:03.1), Race 9 with Ricks Jackpot (1:59.3), Race 12 with Honor The Cash (2:04.3) and Race 13 with Fox Valley Michael (2:02).

“Hey, it was no pleasure to be driving today. The racetrack was a muddy mess and with the water on the surface the mud was flying and it was really hard to see where you were going,” Dobson said. “But if you want to drive horses for a living you must take the bad with the good.”

At this same time last year, Dobson was challenging for leading driver honours at Monticello. He had stated at that point that he wanted to be the 'Mighty M's leading driver during the 2011 season --- and he might have been, if he stayed. When Saratoga Raceway started its meet last year, Dobson moved his base of operation there and won that track's driving title.

(With files from Monticello)