When Lively Moment won last season’s Monticello Marathon, the veteran trotting mare established a World Record at a distance of one and three-quarter miles over a half mile track when Bruce Aldrich, Jr. guided her home in a time of 3:42:4.
Racing well again this year, Lively Moment may want to take a shot at lowering her own standard when the 'Mighty M' presents another edition of the Monticello Marathon on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 16.
Lively Moment’s clocking marked the second time that a Monticello Raceway-based trotter set a World Record in the one and three-quarter mile contest. During the 1998 season, Poppa IM, in rein to Jack Rice, established the former standard when they beat a solid field in a time of 3:45:2.
Now Eric Warner, the track's director of racing, is in the process of putting together a field of trotters for the Monticello Marathon again with hopes of establishing yet another record.
“It may sound trivial to some but here is a chance for a horse and driver to go into the record books if they can win our marathon in a time better than the one posted last year by Lively Moment,” noted Eric Warner, the track Director of Racing. “And over the years we’ve found that the one and three-quarter mile distance is a great equalizer where lesser calibre trotters are just a competitive as better class trotters.”
The race at the one and three-quarter mile distance is also a respite from the usual one-mile contests, and every season the event creates attention and has been a fan favourite.
Though the race is still weeks away, anyone interested in more information or to perhaps enter a trotter can do so by contacting Warner in the race office at 845-794-4100 (Ext. 557) or they can call the track's publicity office at extension 455.
(With files from Monticello)