AUSTIN SEIGELMAN, THE NEW “KID” IN TOWN, HAS ANOTHER HAT
TRICK
It was just a few years ago when a youngster by the name of
Jordan Stratton displayed an innate talent for driving harness horses at a very
tender age and Monticello Raceway fans watched the emergence of “the Kid”, who
became the youngest driver to win a Mighty M driving title. He has moved on
and now competes, and very successfully, against the best drivers
at Yonkers Raceway.
Shades of Stratton have again come to mind here as fans
watch another developing young talent in Austin Siegelman who just turned 22
years of age late last month. Although he has yet to reach the
heights that Stratton did during his tenure here still Siegelman appears
to have the talent to do so. And that he has great aspirations he may not
stay here long enough to produce similar numbers.
On the Wednesday afternoon (March 12) card the youngster
again won three races but this time it was on an eight-race card. It also
happened to be his second hat trick in the past two weeks. Now with
27 wins at the current meet, Siegelman is in sixth place on the local
leaderboard.
His initial triumph yesterday (Wednesday) came behind Woody
Hoblitzell’s trotter Samawinner ($17.60) in 2:01.3 in the first race and he
followed that with a 1:59 victory with PB Racing Stables, Wheelchair
Wendy($8.70) in race four. Win number three came when he guided Julie Working’s
Wild Request ($4.20 )to a come-from-behind victory in a 2:01.2 clocking.
“I had seven drives yesterday and long for the days when I
have a drive on every race on the card,” Siegelman said.
A quiet kid who does his talking on the racetrack previously
stated that he wants to compete regularly on his hometown track, Pocono
Downs. And that’s a great possibility even though he has recently
had success competing at Yonkers Raceway, the Meadowlands and even at
Saratoga Raceway.
Last fall the Monticello Goshen Chapter USHWA presented
Siegelman with their Rising Star Award and honor also won recently by Jordan
Stratton and Joe Bongiorno. And Jimmy Marohn, Jr. was also cited with a Rising
Star Award a few years ago.
“I’m in good company and I look forward to bigger and better
things,” Siegelman said. “I love driving horses and I plan on being in this
business for a long time. Hopefully this is just the beginning of some great
things to come.”
