Aaron Merriman finally makes it to the top

Harness racing driver Aaron Merriman finally made it back to the top of the 2015 North American driving win standings on Tuesday – but at Northfield last night, it was more a rollercoaster ride than a smooth progression to the top.

 

With the score starting the day at 832-830, Merriman two victories behind George Napolitano Jr. (who yesterday reiterated to the Daily Racing Form's Derick Giwner that he did not plan to drive again this year), Merriman first went to work in the afternoon at The Meadows, where he narrowed the lead to one with a victory with trotter Pathian in the day's fifth race. (Pathian would make quite a story herself, as she raced three times in four days at the State Fair of West Virginia in August – and set five track records, including lowering the half-miler's all-time standard to 2:01.1.) Merriman drove through the 13th at The Meadows, then headed to Northfield and his date with destiny.

 

Arriving at the Cleveland-area track in time for the sixth race, Merriman started his evening action with a third – and then the ride on the rollercoaster began. In the seventh, Aaron utilized the rail to work out a pocket trip with second-choice Sand India Blu, behind favored Dayplanner. Merriman ducked his horse into the Northfield passing lane, and went to the fore 100 feet from the finish – only to have his trotter go offstride within the shadow of the wire, finishing first, but being placed second for the lapped-on break.

 

The next dip in the ride would come in the ninth, when Merriman never saw the rail with Mustodian, circled a parked horse to challenge on the turn and go to the lead in the stretch – only to have another Merriman, Michigander Jason, follow his move with Stardust Memories, who just got by Mustodian in the final strides for a neck victory. Still 832-831 – but that was about to change.

 

In the tenth race Aaron gave a textbook drive to Howabout Hanover in a claiming race for non-winners of six races lifetime, tucking fifth and watching a wild early battle result in splits of 27.3 and 55.3 in 41-degree temperatures on the twicearound. Merriman moved his horse into position behind a limbed-the-mile horse, then swept three-deep off the third turn to engage frontstepping Arrow at the 1:24.3 ¾. Late on the last turn and through the stretch, there was no question which horse had more left in the tank, as Howabout Hanover strode off to a 4½ length victory in 1:53.4 – a time only 4/5 off his lifetime mark taken at the roomy Hoosier Park earlier this year, with the mercury at 78 degrees. Merriman was again tied for the driving lead at 832 – and the horse's scattered backers marveled at collecting $18.60 on a horse rated 5-2 on the morning line.

 

Merriman endured a breaker in the 11th and a horse mired by dull cover in the 12th, but when opportunity knocked in the lucky 13th, he opened the door, and went inside. Literally – again working out a pocket trip, here with 9-2 shot Lock Three, Merriman went to the passing lane, and while for a second it looked like his horse wouldn't kick in fast enough in the short Northfield stretch, Aaron got a late bit-grabbing burst from Lock Three to rally for a half-length tally – 2015 victory number 833, and a lead he does not seem likely to lose until the end of the season.

 

If you have a chance to watch the replays of the races concerned in the drama at Northfield last night, it's worth the effort to watch Aaron Merriman's body language, and how it progressed. After the seventh race, the camera follows Merriman after the race, and you can see him briefly shake his head as he was bringing his misbehaving trotter under control. In the ninth, the shot to watch is the tight-up stretch replay, as Aaron's face goes in the stretch from reflecting faint opportunity to a grimace of certain knowledge as Merriman edged past Merriman late. In the 10th, the stretch camera shows Aaron exhibit a tight-lipped half-grin as he draws away in the lane, and in the winners enclosure, he actually waves to a couple of people upon existing.

 

For the historic 13th, the stretch shot shows Merriman so intent on rallying his pacer up the inside that he is a study in concentration, and he shows little emotion in Victory Lane. But stay with that replay to the very end – Northfield shows a stock picture of the winning driver after the post-race ceremonies are over, and the very last shot you'll see is of a widely-grinning Aaron Merriman.

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REPHIGURING THE PHINAL PHILLY NUMBERS – George Napolitano Jr. wound up with 399 wins and a UDR of .397 after the last day of racing at Harrah's Philadelphia this past Sunday; Gil Garcia-Herrera's final numbers were 153 victories and a .438 UTR. The totals were checked in the tallying system after the Philly card, but the numbers included in Monday's story did not include the Sunday results, which had not yet gone through the system as official. (The 832 seasonal figure for "GNap," verified again the next morning along with Merriman's, is official.) We apologize – but any way you look at the figures, the two horsemen had terrific seasons at Harrah's.