Virgil Morgan Jr. became the second trainer in North American harness racing history to reach 8,000 wins as I Did It Myway scored in the eighth race at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Saturday, June 6, moments before the conditioner won the $138,889 Buckeye Distaff at Northfield Park on the other side of Ohio.

Morgan, the leading trainer at Scioto for 31 straight years, needed three wins going into the evening to reach the milestone. With trainees racing at both his home track and Northfield, he could've earned the critical win at either establishment. In the span of an hour, Morgan won four races between the two.

Win 7,998 came at an 8:43 p.m. off time when Carbine ($7.20) and Jeremy Smith took the Horses and Geldings Open III Pace over the sloppy track at Scioto in 1:50.3. Morgan's 7,999th win came in the next race at 9:01 p.m. when Bright Bet ($9) and Cam McCown won the Horses and Geldings Open II Pace in 1:50. Morgan then completed the natural hat trick with his 8,000th victory at 9:19 p.m. when Justin Irvine guided I Did It Myway to a late-closing victory in 1:50 in a conditioned pace. 

Parked three-wide into the first turn from post seven, the Captaintreacherous-Flyme To The Moon stallion took the long way around through a :26 opening quarter and :53.3 half. Heading down the backstretch, Irvine ducked I Did It Myway to the rail as Rock The Hill (Devon Tharps) continued to lead the field to the 1:20.4 three-quarters. Going deep into the passing lane, I Did It Myway squeezed through in the stretch to win by 1-1/2 lengths over Kage Daniel (Marvin Luna). Rock The Hill finished third. I Did It Myway is owned by David Hamm, EVM Racing LLC and Glenn Phillips. The seven-year-old now has 41 wins in 125 lifetime starts and $1,682,383 in earnings. He paid $3.20 to win.

Morgan then earned win 8,001 in taking the Buckeye Distaff at Northfield with Odds On Chesapeake, who scored in 1:50 with Todd McCarthy in the bike at 9:47 p.m.

Morgan hit the 7,000-win plateau four years ago and has averaged 229 wins each year over the last eight seasons. He currently sits second all-time in career training wins in North America behind Ron Burke and is nearly 1,000 wins ahead of Erv Miller, who is third. Morgan is also fifth in career training earnings with $83.4 million USD, behind Burke, Jimmy Takter, Miller and Bob McIntosh.

Morgan looks to secure his 32nd straight training title at Scioto and has a good lead after Saturday’s program with 44 wins, which has him 25 ahead of second-placed Burke,

Third in the standings is Heather France, who kept pace with Morgan via a triple of her own on the 15-race program. France's pupils swept the early double as Bettingsensation N ($3) scored in 1:51.1 in the opener with Irvine at the lines and Rockin N Talkin ($36.60) reached up for a 17-1 upset for Luke Ebersole in 1:51 in the second. The conditioner combined again with Irvine to tally with Bettor Way To Rock ($5.80), who won the fifth race in 1:52 to complete the France triple.

France is third in the Scioto standings on 17 wins. She is in the midst of a career-best season with 66 victories across all tracks, besting her previous top tally of 44. 

(With files from Scioto Downs)