On Thursday, June 8 at Monticello Raceway, pilot Mike Merton guided trotter Marquee T to a gate-to-wire victory in 2:01.4. The victory was the 2,000th of Merton's career.

Merton rushed up to the milestone winning with regularity, but it took him a while to reach the summit.

“I’m glad it’s finally over now,” a seemingly-relieved Merton said after his victory. “I was going along at a good clip then all of a sudden I went 0-for-20. I guess near the end the ‘jinx-bug’ bit me.”

It was Merton’s 66th winning drive at the 'Mighty M' this season which is good enough to place him fifth on the local leaderboard. Last season his 106 winners were seventh best.

Merton began driving in amateur races here back in the late 1980s, and his first 100-win season didn’t come until 1999, when he drove exactly 100 winners. Mike’s biggest seasonal output came in 2005 when he reined 226 winners.

(With files from Monticello)