When young Austin Siegelman hustled Able Yankee to a come-
from- behind 1:57.3 victory at Monticello Raceway on Monday afternoon, August 4
he lit up the tote board after the 9 year old McArdle mare paid a whopping
$221.00 for win.
However, as huge as the payoff was, and it’s big for an
eight-horse field, it still was dwarfed by the Mighty M’s all-time biggest
return of $377.00 on a two dollar win ticket produced by Cam Dan Kadandy and
driver Greg Annoloro on September 26, 2012.
In their victory Siegelman and his pacing mare used a
second-over trip and came from behind to collar the pace-setter, 1-9
favorite Slickety Split (Jimmy Marohn), and score a head victory; just the
second in 22 seasonal starts for Able Yankee.
Last fall at the Monticello-Goshen Chapter USHWA Awards
Banquet Siegelman was cited with the scribes ‘Rising Star Award’.
“Winning the Rising Star Award definitely gives me a lot of
confidence going forward,” Siegelman, from Kingston, Pa., told a reporter
of his hometown newspaper, the Citizen’s Voice.
During the 2013 season Siegelman was beginning to be noticed
as a talented catch-driver and local trainers were starting to avail themselves
of his abilities.
That year Siegelman got his name in the Monticello Raceway
record books after he drove Mymomsablizzard to a 1:57 triumph which equaled the
track standard set by Aren’t I Hanover who toured the double oval here in the
identical time for Zeke Parker on August21, 2013.
In only his second year in the sulky he finished the 2013
season with 90 winners. This year he has already reined 130 winners
Siegelman, who turned 22 years of age this past February 22,
has recently been doing double -duty, also racing regularly at Saratoga Raceway
and he added three winners to his seasonal resume on the Saturday
night card of August 3 at Saratoga Raceway.
A quiet young man whose star is certainly on the rise,
Siegelman isn’t one to celebrate openly. He
lets his prowess speak for him. However he recently said; “ I plan on
being in this business for a long time and hopefully these things are just the
beginning of great things to come.”
