The pacer, owned by Skull and Roses Stable and trained by
Frank Yanoti, toured the Mighty M oval in a time of 2:03.3 over an extremely
muddy racetrack.
“It was tough going out there today with the rain coming
down and the mud flying in your face made it was hard to see where you were
going,” Merton said after his victory.
When he was told that he is approaching 2000 wins he smiled
and said: “I knew I was closing in on 2000 (wins) but I didn’t
realize that I’m as close as I am. Hey, I‘ll probably get it this year,”
he added with tongue in cheek.
If the past is any barometer, and barring any unforeseen
circumstances, Merton will definitely reach 2000 wins, and it’ll be sooner than
later.
Already with 46 wins in the books –sixth best locally at
this time-- the recently turned 40-year-old reinsman had 106 wins last season
and 144 the previous year. Merton’s biggest seasonal output came in 2005
when he drove 226 winners. And since 2000, Merton’s name was always among the
top ten on the local leaderboard.
Though he was born in Bayshore, NY, Merton grew-up in
Monticello where the world there seemed to revolve around the racetrack, at
least in the earlier years. And the lure of harness racing attracted a young
Mike Merton. But that was easy to understand. His dad Bob Merton (Sr.)
was a longtime horseman and his brothers Greg, Bobby Jr., Tommy and even
sister Veronica, also became involved in the sport.
Younger brother Greg, who has been a two time Mighty M
driving champion , has driven over 3330 winners and nothing has ever come
between the close-knit brothers. In fact they even married sisters; and twins
at that.
Besides his racing prowess Mike is also deeply involved in
the local community and is even a volunteer fireman.
