Trainer Gary Messenger is again having a good year at
Monticello Raceway. Yesterday alone, he harnessed four winners and he is
keeping the pressure on Danny Gill and Bob Lounsbury. Now with 66 winners
Messenger vaulted ahead of Lounsbury’s 63 and now trails Gill be just two
victories.
It didn’t seem to matter if it was Jimmy Taggart, Jr. or
Zeke Parker who drove for Messenger, both gentlemen won for him; Taggart drove
three winners and Parker drove one.
Messenger’s first winner was with KJ Brent, the promising 2
year old pacing son of Art Major who zipped the lead from the two-hole and
sauntered off to an easy two length victory in a time of 2:00.2 for Jimmy
Taggart, Jr in just the colt’s second lifetime start.
“He was the only 2 year old in the field he handled them
with ease,” Taggart said after the victory. “He’s got some class, is good
gaited and is real handy.”
KJ Brent is owned by avid amateur driver Dr. Scott Woogen, a
gastroenterologist from Virginia. He is one of the many horses that Messenger
trains for the driving doctor.
Parker drove Messenger’s winner in the second race when he
guided the 6 year old pacing mare Bet On Lindy home first in a time of
1:57.2. The Bettor’s Delight mare is owned by Brenda Messenger (Gary’s wife)
and Dr. Scott Woogen.
The same combination of trainer and owners copped the third
race on the card which gave Gary Messenger three straight winners to start the
day. Messenger and Woogen’s 3-year old son of American Ideal,
American Fighter, sat a two-hole trip and then rallied to a 2:00 victory
in the pacer’s fifth lifetime start for driver Jimmy Taggart, Jr.
Taggart then won the seventh race with the Messenger-trained
trotter, Monica’s Image, in 2:00. That victory gave the Messenger and Woogen
partnership its third winner on the program.
“I’ve trained horses for a few other amateur drivers in the
past but I’ve been training horses for Doc Woogen over 15 years. Together
we own about 30 horses which includes broodmares and babies,” Messenger said.
“WE got a full brother to KJ Brent who is just a yearling now.
