Lookout Bruce Aldrich, Jr; don’t look over your shoulder,
Jimmy Marohn, Jr. There’s a new kid on the block and he’s hungry for winning
races. He’s Jason Ryan and he’s got talent.
On the muddy card of Tuesday, January 14 Ryan broke out and
reined five winners.
Asked if he moves up when he drives on a muddy Monticello Raceway track Ryan
answered, “Not particularly, but I get along alright when it rains especially
if my horses can go forward.”
He started the afternoon winning both ends of the early
double with a pair of old-timers. He captured the first race with 11 year old
Lambretta ($3.70) in a 2:01.2 clocking and came back to cop the second with 13
year old Iwannabesedated ($26.40)in 2:00.
His next triumph came in the seventh race behind front
-running Johnny Grippa ($3.00) in 2:00.1 and he then proceeded to win the
eighth with Threestepstoheaven ($11.20) in 1:58.3.
After Ryan scored his fourth victory he was contacted in the
paddock and congratulated on his prowess on the afternoon card.
He seemed to take his victories as a matter of fact and
offered that he thought he could have won four last week when the race
card had to be cancelled due to inclement weather.
“Winning four races is a whole lot better than thinking you
can win four,” he added readily, and then was asked if he thought he could win
any more on the card.
“I have a chance in the 10th (with
Machinist) but he’ in against a horse (Hickory Louie) that won 13 times last
year and he figures to be the best,” he said. “But you never know.”
Lo and behold, Ryan finished the day with a victory behind
Machinist ($6.60) when they got up in the final strides to collar Hickory
Louis, the 1-2 favorite, in a time of 2:01.1.
Ryan, 25, is ready for a break- out season. He now has 14
horses at the Mt. Hope Training Center in Orange County not 30 miles from
the Mighty M and just an hour’s ride to Yonkers or the Meadowlands.
“I’d like to race there in the future but I know I have to
pay my dues before I’m able to,” Ryan admitted.
Asked if he ever had five winners on one racing program
before, he laughed and he said: “I darn near won all the races on a card at
Sudbury Downs a couple of years. Sudbury is a small track and they had
just six races on that card. I won five and was beat a nose in the other.”
After racing the past few years at smaller tracks and
having won 111 races last year and 113 the previous, both from a limited amount
of starts, the Prince Edward Island-native is moving up and moving closer
to the big money. And he figures to be a player before too long.
