Aaron Merriman wrapped up another stellar season at MGM Northfield Park in 2024 with 574 winner's circle trips from 2,324 starts to collect his eighth straight driving title and 13th overall at the Home of the Flying Turns. Hunter Myers (260), Kurt Sugg (257), Justin Irvine (255) and Ronnie Wrenn Jr (236) rounded out the top five.
Merriman doesn't just win at Northfield, as he tacked on 300 more victories around the continent to bring his grand total to 874 for the 2024 racing season, which catapulted him to his astonishing 10th consecutive season as leading driver in North America. Merriman not only spends a lot of time winning, but his bike racks up plenty of miles as he had 4,125 starts. That marked his 11th season with over 4,000 starts, vaulting him over 85,000 total.
His total purse earnings in 2024 of $8,696,524 marked his seventh consecutive season over $8 million, excluding the abbreviated pandemic year (2020). Merriman also had highlight wins on "Super Weekend" with Clever Cody (trained by Dr. Ian Moore) in the $300,000 Scarlet Championship and then a pair of $100,000 Gray Championship scores with Howaboutayankee (trained by K. Dean Glispie) and Mega Money (trained by Christopher Beaver).
"I keep telling myself I want to slow down because it is a little tiring, but if I think about being tired, I'll perform like I'm tired, so for now I'm not going to cut back. I'm not chasing records, just trying to go out there and do my best to win each race," Merriman said when asked about pulling double duty throughout the week at The Meadows and Northfield.
Obviously, Merriman knows you can't win them all with as many starts as he makes each year, but he is very hard on himself.
"I don't like losing and I am very hard on myself, but as I have gotten older, I've learned to let it go. After a couple minutes I just move on to the next race and go out and give 110%."
The 46-year-old Northfield native and career earner of over $121 million began his career in 1997. With an accumulating total of 16,187 he now ranks third all-time in wins, sitting 1,632 behind Tony Morgan and 4,868 wins behind Dave Palone, who is the only driver over 20,000 wins.
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On the training side, it was Cory Kreiser who had an exceptional season to dominate the standings with 197 wins. Jodi Schillaci (117), Bill Rhoades (110), Ron Burke (109) and Renae Loney (90) rounded out the top five. For Kreiser, it was his second chart-topping season in three years at the northeast Ohio circuit. He was dominant all around, and while having the most starts certainly can't hurt the stats, the quality was the impressive part- he nearly won at 20% last season with an in the money percentage of 47% and total earnings of $1,347,699.
Kreiser made it three straight seasons of over $1,000,000 in total earnings, and it was his second season with over 200 wins across all tracks.
"Honestly, growing up driving was everything, but I realize I'm a little overweight and not as talented as some of the others, so I do it when I'm stuck. I do enjoy driving young trotters and doing the training miles,” Kreiser said.
He was a bit harsh on himself, as he finished seventh in UDRS rating in 2024 after chipping in 27 driving wins from 283 starts (9.5%).
While the trainers receive most of the credit, there are many steps to get a horse ready week in and week out.
"It is a big achievement for me to win a second training title at such a young age (recently just turned 31). It takes a village to do what we do and to accomplish this. Everyone in the barn, owners, drivers, and anyone else along that way help make it possible," Kreiser added.
Dual carryovers Tuesday night at Northfield
There was a strong chill in the air with temperatures in the mid-teens, but the action was hot on Sunday night (Jan. 5th). The Pick 5 had multiple mid-price upsets, creating a carryover of $4,867 to roll over to the Tuesday (Jan. 7th) program.
The $1 wager beginning in race six will feature an estimated pool of $30,000, and as always sports the player-friendly 14% takeout.
The action doesn't stop with the mid-card delight, though. There is also a 50-cent, non-jackpot Pick 6 carryover of $5,950 with an estimated pool of $20,000 beginning in the eighth race.
Post time for the 16-race program on Tuesday is 6 p.m. (EST).
MGM Northfield Park currently races four evenings on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. For more information on live racing, visit www.northfieldpark.com.
--press release (Northfield)--