When Aaron Merriman scored his 1,000th victory of 2018 to be come the first driver to have multiple 1,000 seasons, who knew records would continue to fall. On Thursday (December 27), Merriman became the winningest single-season driver in the history of Northfield Park.
Merriman scored his 707th victory of the year at the Home of the Flying Turns in race 11 when he guided Gwally (David Russo) to victory. The previous record holder was Walter Case Jr., who had 706 victories in 2001. Merriman has been the leading driver at Northfield Park six times, and he is on track to lead the “Turns” again in 2018.
“I wasn’t aware of the number until a few days ago,” chimed in Merriman. “It’s been a magical year that I don’t feel I can repeat. Thank you to Northfield Park for allowing me to call this home,” he continued.
Merriman put Gwally ($3) on the lead and never took his foot off of the gas pedal. He made the lead early and only had to deal with a slight challenge from Mesmerized, who tired late in the stretch.
It has been a spectacular season for Merriman, who as of Thursday night had 1,127 victories in 2018 and $10,413,731 in the bank. Merriman was able to accomplish this feat in just under 5,000 drives this season. For Merriman, who scored his 10,000th win in March, “winning never gets old.”
(Northfield Park)