Tony Morgan cuts such a swath as the controversial president ofthe Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association, some criticsconveniently forget what a tremendous talent he is in the sulky.
A few weeks removed from a horsemen's strike that shut down liveracing in Chicago for more than two months, Morgan was in a zone ofhis own last Friday night at Maywood Park. The 2002 national Driverof the Year put his name in the Chicago-circuit record book and had anight that ranks among the best in North American harness-racinghistory.
Sometimes you make the right move every time and look like agenius," said Morgan, 44, seemingly shrugging off his nine victoriesand three seconds in 12 races.
Morgan joined an elite club of seven drivers to win nine times onone raceway program. He came close to joining record-holders WalterCase Jr. and Dave Palone, missing his 10th when Matthew Cadet's drivewas a neck short in the 11th race.
That was the first time in a while we've seen him drive like theold Tony Morgan," said trainer Gerald Hansen, for whom Morgan steeredfive winners on Friday. He's just had so much on his mind, what withthe strike and all, you could tell he's been distracted."
Hansen, a longtime friend and business associate of Morgan's,joshed that to celebrate his record night, Tony went home and playedMonopoly."
Morgan should have had an inkling that something special mighthappen when, in the first race, Democritus broke stride and was 19lengths behind at the half and nine lengths back at the stretch callbefore winning by a head. He won the first five, finished second inthe sixth, won the next three, was runner-up in the 10th and 11th andtook the nightcap.
The driving is the fun part," Morgan said. The other part [beingIHHA president] is more work, but is more rewarding."
SLOTS INITIATIVE: The state's racetracks rolled out their plan forthe addition of slots before the House Gaming Committee, chaired byRep. Lou Lang, on Thursday in Springfield.
As outlined by former thoroughbred executives Ed Duffy and ScottMordell, the proposal calls for 5,000 gaming positions, Balmoral Parkpresident Johnny Johnston said. Balmoral and Fairmount would get 400each, Maywood 1,225, Hawthorne 1,350 and Arlington 1,625.
Johnston estimated that with slots supplements, purses at Balmoraland Maywood would would roughly double, making them No. 1 in NorthAmerica in gross and net."
The tracks are banking on the state's budget crunch to grease theskids.
What should jump off the page is that this [plan] raises revenuefor the state at a time when it's desperately needed," Johnston. [TheLegislature] doesn't have to give us money anymore, they would getmoney."
The adjusted gross revenue generated by slots would be split 50-50 between the tracks and the horsemen, with 43 percent of thehorsemen's share allocated to standardbred purses. In exchange forgaming positions, the tracks would lose purse recapture" and theirclaims to revenue from the ill-fated 10th riverboat casino license.
VOICE OF THE FAN HEARD: Thanks in no small part to feedback fromreaders of this column, Balmoral is testing lenses of much greaterfocal length that would markedly improve its television signal.Simulcast director Jim Hannon said that lenses with 70-to-1 and 55-to-1 magnification would be considered. Balmoral's longest lens hasbeen 25 to 1. Hannon also said Balmoral and Maywood within 10 dayswould offer race replays on its Web sites. And for those withpersonal computers who have to watch the tracks' live feeds, go towww.worldbroadcasts.com. Word of warning: It's nearly impossible toget anything but a vague idea of what's going on in a race becausethe service's window for the streaming-video is tiny (roughly 31/2 by2 inches) and cannot be expanded.
BURNED OUT: A more aggressive strategy backfired when 2-5 favoritePlesac, locked in a speed duel with Danish Delight, was parked themile and faded to sixth in the $132,420 Su Mac Lad on Sunday at theMeadowlands. Picking up the pieces was 10-year-old Lyell Creek N, whowon the season's first serious test for open trotters by three-quarters of a length in 1:54/?240-208? over a strip rated good" afterdaylong rain.
How Morgan's big night stacks up
When Tony Morgan (right) drove nine winners and three second-place finishers in 12 races last Friday night at Maywood Park, thatperformance ranks second-best all-time under the Universal DriverRating System among reinsman who have nine or more victories on oneraceway program. The Universal Driver Rating system is akin tobaseball's slugging percentage. It is calculated by multiplying winstimes 9, places times 5 and shows times 3, adding those three, anddividing the sum by starts times 9. Here's a rundown of the 10 timesthat drivers have won nine or more on a card ranked by UDRS (odds"are the average odds of the drivers' winning horses):
Driver Date Track St. W P S UDRS Odds
Billy Zeke" Parker Jr. Oct. 20, 1996 Monticello 10 9 1 0 .956 2.08
Tony Morgan March 28, 2003 Maywood 12 9 3 0 .889 2.39
Stephane Bouchard March 8, 2003 Yonkers 12 9 1 1 .824 1.21
Dave Palone Sept. 11, 1999 The Meadows 13 10 1 0 .812 1.51
Walter Case Jr. May 26, 1999 Northfield 13 10 1 0 .812 1.59
Walter Case Jr. June 15, 1996 Yonkers 12 9 0 2 .806 4.01
Luc Ouellette July 22, 1995 Yonkers 12 9 0 2 .806 1.12
Walter Case Jr. June 10, 2000 Pocono 13 9 1 2 .786 0.74
Walter Case Jr. June 16, 1998 Yonkers 12 9 0 0 .750 1.06
David Miller Jan. 10, 1998 Northfield 15 9 2 0 .674 1.82
Source: Harness Racing Communications.
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