Many in Canada are starting to recognize the name Aaron Merriman. Although the name is becoming familiar and some stories have been written, the background of the up-and-coming pilot is rather unknown to many north of
the border, until now.
Merriman, currently North America's leading dash winner with close to 400 wins, will venture to the Meadowlands on Saturday for a busy night of drives.
The 30-year-old resident of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in coming off a career season in 2008 in which he recorded 614 wins, placing him sixth in North America. He has been the leading driver at Northfield Park in Cleveland for the past three years.
"I've always wanted to drive at the Meadowlands," Merriman said. "I've had a couple of starts there, and I was just waiting for an opportunity. I usually race at Northfield Park on Saturdays, but the money is obviously better in New Jersey. I'm really just looking for more exposure right now."
He is listed to drive five horses for trainer Ken Rucker on Saturday night: Roman Shark (Race 3), Fox Valley Cruiser (Race 4), Wildridge Sam (Race 6), Rocknroll Band (Race 7) and Johnny Charisma (Race 9).
"A good friend of mine, Barry Langley, works for trainer Ken Rucker, and he had mentioned something to me a couple of months ago that a lot of the top Meadowlands drivers go out of town [in June] to drive in stakes," he explained. "He suggested I try to come out there. I saw this as a prime opportunity with a lot of guys away in Canada (at the North America Cup), and if it works out, I'll come back next week."
Merriman's spike in wins and earnings the past two seasons is a product of driving doubleheaders at Northfield Park and the Meadows, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"I was driving at the Meadows pretty much for financial reasons," he said. "I liked training horses, but frankly I'm not that good at it and can't afford it. So, I just started to put my name in the hat over at the Meadows and it took off pretty good."
He admits to being nervous about being a smaller fish in the big city pond at the Meadowlands.
"The Meadowlands is difficult to break into," he noted. "They have the best drivers in the world, and just being there and getting the opportunity is exciting. You have to get used to not winning a lot like you do at home.
"Honestly, I have no clue how I'm going to do," he continued. "I don't know if my aggressive style is going to fit a mile track. When you've got the power on a half-mile track, you can just move anytime you want. The Meadows helped me a lot in being more patient and not giving them (the horses) too much air. I watch a lot of the races from the Meadowlands, and it's going to be an exciting experience. I'm not a person who gets nervous, and I'm actually quite anxious about this. Driving the Ken Rucker horses will help because they're always well classified. Hopefully, I'll adjust okay."
Merriman is a second-generation horseman. His father, Lanny Merriman, is a veteran trainer-driver at Northfield Park with more than 1,200 driving wins and 500 training victories.
"My mother very much wanted me to pursue my education and go to college," he said. "I moved to Toledo, Ohio to attend the university, but I never actually went. I enrolled, had classes, but didn't attend them. I started working for a trainer there, and he put me down to drive his horses. In the meantime, I thought I could always go back to school. My grades in high school were always good, but part of the problem was I didn't really have an area of strong interest. I was just going to pacify my mother at the time. She was a professor at Kent State and I could've gone to school for free at the time.
"I thought I'd try racing and it's just gotten better every year," he continued. "My uncle, Gary Merriman, bought me a horse and that finally clinched it for me. Once I got my own horse, I had to do the work and pay the bills. I had nothing to do with the sport at the time. I had always liked coming out to the barn, but I never was much help to my father. I always had something else to do, but once I stuck around the horses, it was very addicting."
While the next two weeks at the Meadowlands are a test run, Merriman said he would consider making a permanent move to New Jersey.
"I'm willing to go anywhere, but it's tough to leave home," he said. "I have a five-year-old son, Kristopher, and a girlfriend, Tessa, who helps me immensely. I need to know I've got quality work and a long-term commitment. I think about it all the time. It's very sad the way Ohio racing is going, and it's over two hours to the Meadows."
(Meadowlands)