(Photo of driver Scott Zeron courtesy of Geri Schwarz.)
By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs
Fresh off his $1 million Hambletonian win with the filly Atlanta on Saturday (Aug. 4), driver Scott Zeron will be competing at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Aug. 8) in the $109,000 New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings.
Zeron will drive in both $54,500 divisions as well as two of the three $15,000 Excel “A” races on the card.
The NYSS are in races two and six with post time for the first race at 5 p.m.
Zeron had a huge afternoon at the Meadowlands on Saturday. Besides winning the Hambletonian with Atlanta (who became only the 14th filly to win that 3-year-old trotting stake in its 93-year history), he also won the $286,650 John Cashman Memorial trot with Marion Marauder (who Zeron also won the 2016 Hambletonian with) and the $260,100 Sam McKee Memorial pace with Western Joe.
In the first NYSS division at Batavia on Wednesday, Zeron will drive Thunder (Conway Hall-Cr Oh Suzanna) for trainer John Butenschoen.
Thunder has had some issues, making a bad break two starts ago. However last week at Saratoga Raceway he seems to have righted the ship by winning in 1:59.2 to gain his first lifetime win. Zeron drove him last week in that NYSS event and will look for a chance to have him double up in this race, starting from post seven.
He will have to take on the morning line favorite Chip Chip Conway (Conway Hall-Get Chipped) who is coming in off two strong outings.
After making two consecutive breaks in his first two NYSS starts, trainer Gary Messenger added trotting hobbles and the gelding qualified back fine. Since then he has won in a lifetime best 1:58 at Tioga Downs and finished second by a head to Thunder last week. Regular driver Jim Taggart Jr. will be back in the bike once again, leaving from post six.
In the second division, Our White Knight (Crazed-Psychotherapist) gets the services of Zeron and looks to up his game. So far this year he is a perfect four for four finishing second and is still looking for that first win.
Our White Knight got away well last week and became forwardly placed early, which helped his good closing ability to be more effective at the end of the mile. With an inside post this week, look for a similar situation with Zeron up from post two. John Butenschoen also trains this gelding.
The main rival here is morning line favorite Labadee AS (Conway Hall-Smith Hall) who has two consecutive open-length wins in Excel “A” action. However this week he moves back up to the top tier for this race, which is the first time he has been in a NYSS event since his first lifetime start on July 9. Andy Miller, who finished second to Atlanta in the Hambletonian with Met’s Hall, picks up the lines for trainer Anette Lorentzen for the first time behind Labadee AS with post one.
In the Excel “A” races, Zeron will also drive Simple Kaos (RC Royalty-Ksenia) from post one in the eighth race for trainer George Ducharme and Crazy Every Time (Crazed-Bar Ballad) from post five in the ninth race for trainer Jim Mc Donald.
Although only driving for 12 years, the 29-year-old Zeron has posted some phenomenal numbers through his career, starting out on the very competitive Ontario tracks and then moving to the Grand Circuit.
Currently Zeron has 3,390 wins, 2,870 seconds and 2,785 thirds out of 22,014 start with $62,507,595 in earnings.
Zeron was the youngest Canadian driver to reach 1,000 wins and the youngest driver in history to reach 2,000 wins. He was also the youngest driver ever to win the Little Brown Jug with Michael's Power in 2012.
In 2012 Zeron received the Rising Star Award from the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) and showed why he got that honor with the biggest year of his career (to that point) in 2016 when he won the Meadowlands driving title and the trotting Triple Crown with Marion Marauder.
