Last year’s stalwarts, Bob Lounsbury and Danny Gill, are
again on top of the leaderboard in a continuation of the friendly battle that
ensued during the 2013 campaign. The modern-era trainers, who leave the driving
to the professionals, are back at it again and currently Lounsbury’s 18 winners
are showing the way with Gill’s 14 in hot pursuit.
On the Monday afternoon card of February 10 Gill
added a pair of victories to his totals when Jimmy Marohn, Jr.
reined trotter Rose Run Nash to a 2:03 triumph followed by a 1:59.3 score with
pacer Net Jet.
Lounsbury, on the other hand, had one winner when Bruce
Aldrich, Jr. guided Working Stiffs to a 2:00.4 victory.
During the 2013 campaign it was Gill leading the way right
from the reel and it appeared that he’d be the winner. But in December when he
took a two-week Florida vacation Lounsbury got hot and took command and went on
to score his first training title here.
“Danny and I had a lot of fun teasing one another and
although he had a lead going into December my horses had a great month. Even
when he was on vacation I’d tweet him saying ‘Danny I’m gonna catch you so you
better hurry back soon,’ Lounsbury recalled with a laugh.
“We tied him in late December and went on to win the
training title, my first ever. I felt real good about that because our
light-hearted digs along the way helped to keep the pressure off. We both
had a great year but I believe it’ll be hard to duplicate the (2013) numbers
again this season.
At season’s end Lounsbury’s 202 winners were 10 more than
Gill’s 192 and Lounsbury’s output marked only the second time a trainer
had 200 or more winners at the Mighty M.
However, as good as a season that Lounsbury had , Joe
Minieri’s 218 wins during the 1999 campaign remains the standard.
