It was just a few years ago when a youngster by the name of Jordan Stratton displayed an innate talent for driving harness horses at a very tender age. Fans of Monticello Raceway watched the emergence of ‘The Kid,’ who became the youngest driver to win a ‘Mighty M’ driving title.
Stratton has moved on and now competes very successfully against the best drivers at Yonkers Raceway.
Shades of Stratton have again come to mind at Monticello as fans watch another developing young talent in Austin Siegelman, who just turned 22 years of age late last month.
Although he has yet to reach the heights that Stratton did during his tenure at Monticello, Siegelman still appears to have the talent to do so – and since he has great aspirations, he may not stay at Monticello long enough to produce similar numbers.
On the Wednesday afternoon (March 12) card at the Mighty M, the youngster again won three races (Samawinner, $17.60; Wheelchair Wendy, $8.70; Wild Request, $4.20 ), but this time it was on an eight-race card. Now with 27 wins at the current meet, Siegelman is in sixth place on the local leaderboard.
“I had seven drives yesterday and long for the days when I have a drive on every race on the card,” Siegelman said.
The quiet kid that does his talking on the racetrack had previously stated that he wants to compete regularly on his hometown track, Pocono Downs. That’s a great possibility, even though he has recently had success competing at Yonkers Raceway, the Meadowlands Racetrack, and even at Saratoga Raceway.
Last fall, the Monticello Goshen Chapter of USHWA presented Siegelman with its Rising Star Award, an honour which was also recently awarded to Jordan Stratton and Joe Bongiorno. Jimmy Marohn Jr. was also cited with a Rising Star Award a few years ago.
“I’m in good company and I look forward to bigger and better things,” Siegelman said. “I love driving horses and I plan on being in this business for a long time. Hopefully this is just the beginning of some great things to come.”
(With files from Monticello)