Tony Verruso and Christopher Petrelli were victorious in their respective splits in the North American Amateur Drivers Association trotting series Wednesday (July 14) at Monticello Raceway.
Verruso scored with Winneress in 2:00.1 in the first $6,000 division, while Petrelli and Katkin And Coke scored in 2:00.2 in the second split.
In his division, owner-driver Verruso sent Winneress to the lead, and they had command as the quarter mile timer flashed :29.3.
“I had planned to follow Alan (Schwartz with Raceace), who had the pole, but when Raceace went off stride before the start, I found myself on the lead as we headed to the quarter,” Verruso related. “And that was a big break for us since Alan s horse was the one to beat.”
Leading driver Mike Merton padded his lead over his contemporaries by winning five races on Monday at Monticello Raceway.
Merton started the five-bagger in Race 3 aboard Flight of The Kiwi, who benefited from a pocket trip behind pace setter Bob N Tony in 2:02.1 to earn his fourth win of the year for trainer Owen Eiler, Jr. Merton used the same strategy with Too Much Sun, who overtook Sweet Ginger to win by two lengths in 1:56, earning a season time badge. Merton’s third consecutive win was with the Ralph Silvestri III trained Smartys Filly, who started from Post 3 and took the overland route to win by two lengths in 1:56.2.
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