Jim Morrill Jr. put on a driving clinic at Batavia Downs on Friday, Sept. 19 as he schooled his competition to the tune of seven winners and thrust himself atop the driver standings for the current summer/fall meet.
The pride of Methuen, Massachusetts, Morrill won with Mucho Macho (1:58.1, $2.92) for trainer Julie Wagonblott, Technical Wow (1:57.4, $3.48) and Platinum Proposal (1:59, $2.30) for Shawn McDonough, Ponda Spark (1:56, $5.80) for Lee Dahn, Lookatmyart (1:55.3, $3.32) for Angelo Nappo, Ms Titan (1:57.4, $3.16) for Ronald Houghtaling and Mcnatural L (1:57.3, $4.32) for Mae Smith.
Morrill also posted a second from his 11 total drives, giving himself a gaudy .687 UDR for the evening. Morrill has always been a high percentage reinsman and is currently batting a .433 for the entire year and that places him third among all drivers in North America with less than 500 starts.
Morrill started the card with 43 wins, which was five behind Drew Monti (48), but he now stands at 50 wins, one ahead of Monti, who did win one race on the card to bring himself up to 49.
The featured races on Friday were a pair of $15,417 mid-level conditioned/optional claiming trots. Drew Monti's win was in the first feature with Newsboy ($2.68), who made headlines as he stifled his foes off a class drop, winning in 1:58.3 over the Morril-driven Latavius for trainer Darrin Monti. In the second split, Spicy Hops ($5.14) got the jump, led at every station and won the race handily in 1:58.1 with John Cummings Jr. aboard for trainer Cassie Russo.
McDonough led the trainers with three wins on Friday's 13-race card, also scoring with Cahoots (1:54.3; $3.38), driven by Joseph Chindano Jr.
Live harness racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Saturday, Sept. 20 with post time at 6 p.m. There will be a carryover of $1,412 in the Jackpot Super Hi-5 pentafecta in the 12th race.
(With files from Batavia Downs; photo of Morrill driving a winner at Batavia Downs on Sept. 10)