The weather may have been cold and windy, but Greg Merton was not deterred and had the hot hands on Thursday (Jan 16) at Monticello Raceway.
Fly N With Royalty was Merton’s first winner of the card in the third race. The Tom Milici-trained son of Panspacificflight scored a wire-to-wire three-length win in 1:59.2 for his second win of the young season.
Merton would catch fire and won the card's final three races. Brookstone won from post three by a neck over Victory At Last in 2:01.2 for trainer David Dziengiel. Next, out-of-town invader Mansome won in a wire-to-wire five-length romp in 2:00.4 for Elisha Lafreniere. In the last race, rail starter Tinos Pulse led every step of the way to win by two for trainer Dawn DeVaux in 2:02.3.
The early season leading dash driver is James Devaux with 13 wins. Greg’s four wins on the afternoon has him in second place with 12 wins.
Monticello Raceway will be dark in Monday, January 20 for Martin Luther King Day and will resume live harness racing on Tuesday (Jan. 21) with a 12:25 p.m. first post time.
(with files from Monticello)