Winning races is nothing new for Bruce Aldrich, Jr. He wins
plenty of ‘em. Many days he has three or four winners on a race card but when
he wins five it deserves notice.
That’s exactly what Aldrich did at the Mighty M on Tuesday
afternoon, October 14. He won two, DC’s Piggy Bank and Mixed Media, for trainer
Bob Lounsbury who always uses Aldrich to drive his stock. Other winners were
King Otra (1:55.4) for trainer Dave Russo; Riverboat Sue (1:58.4) for Eric
Taddeo and one, What Rusty (1:56.4), for Elisha Lafreniere.
Aldrich again tops the Monticello Raceway driver’s
leaderboard, something that has become synonymous with his name. Currently his
275 winners are tops and are 79 more than runner-up Jimmy Devaux’s, 196.
Aldrich came to Monticello in 1999 and over the first decade
of the 21st Century he won more races than any other driver here,
even more than Billy “Zeke” Parker, Jr. Since then Aldrich has a streak of
three consecutive years—assuming his big lead will hold up by year’s end-
winning the Mighty M driving title and he’s won five title here in the last six
years. .
But for Aldrich his seasonal stats began bulging when he
gave up training and just concentrated on driving. That happened in mid- 2012
after he moved his base of operations to Saratoga Springs, NY where he
bought a farm and became a regular at Saratoga Raceway. That year he
finished the entire season with 289 winners.
The following year Aldrich started the season here and was
the leader in races won at Monticello Raceway, but when Saratoga Raceway - his
new home track—opened in the early spring he decided to race at both Monticello
and Saratoga. And that’s been his MO since.
Aldrich admits driving at two tracks, mostly on the same
days, is grueling, especially when they are 145 miles apart. And that
Monticello races during the afternoon and Saratoga mostly at night, would this
venue even be possible.
However, no longer is Bruce Aldrich just a regional
stalwart, he has become a national contender. In mid-December last year we put
together a driving competition between Aldrich and the then national leader, Ronnie
Wrenn, Jr. whose home track is Northfield Park in greater Cleveland, Ohio.
When Wrenn graciously agreed to participate we decided
to call the competition the Aldrich-Wrenn Drive-off.
Nothing unusual there you say? Well how about that
after the 13 races were put together by director of racing Eric Warner and the
post positions drawn, each driver-with the Racing Board’s sanction -- would
choose his own mount in every other race. And although the only winner was the
racing public as they enjoyed the driving talents of two premier
reinsmen, Aldrich finished with six winners and Wrenn had won four.
Brucester, as I call him, had a hot-hand until the curtain
came down on the 2013 season, so much so, that he finished the year tied for
second—with Dave Palone- in races won (645) in North America behind
Ronnie Wrenn Jr’s 714.
This year again, Aldrich,46, is a factor. Currently his 471
winners ranks him in sixth place on the North American leaderboard. Still that
puts him ahead of such steadfast reinsmen as Yannick Gingris(451 wins), Corey
Callahan (429); Jason Bartlett (427) and Tim Tetrick (397). For the
record Ronnie Wrenn Jr is battling for the lead with Aaron Merriman and
currently trails him by 16 wins, 645-629.
Earlier this season, on June 23, Aldrich reined his 5000th
career winner and as of this writing his total is now 5221.
