by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — When young Austin Siegelman hustled Able Yankee to a come-from-behind 1:57.3 victory at Monticello Raceway on Monday afternoon (Aug. 4), he lit up the toteboard as the 9-year-old McArdle mare paid a whopping $221 for win.

However, as huge as the payoff was, and it’s big for an eight-horse field, it still was dwarfed by the Mighty M’s all-time biggest return of $377 on a two dollar win ticket produced by Cam Dan Kadandy and driver Greg Annoloro on Sept. 26, 2012.

Geri Schwarz photo

Able Yankee lit up the toteboard on Monday, paying $221 to win.

In their victory Siegelman and his pacing mare used a second-over trip and came from behind to collar the pacesetter, 1-9 favorite Slickety Split (Jimmy Marohn), and score a head victory, just the second in 22 seasonal starts for Able Yankee.

Last fall at the Monticello-Goshen Chapter USHWA Awards Banquet Siegelman was cited with the scribes’ Rising Star Award.

“Winning the Rising Star Award definitely gives me a lot of confidence going forward,” Siegelman, from Kingston, Pa., told a reporter of his hometown newspaper, the Citizen’s Voice.

During the 2013 season Siegelman was beginning to be noticed as a talented catch-driver and local trainers were starting to avail themselves of his abilities.

That year Siegelman got his name in the Monticello Raceway record books after he drove Mymomsablizzard to a 1:57 triumph, which equaled the track standard set by Aren’t I Hanover, who toured the double oval here in the identical time for Zeke Parker on Aug. 21, 2013.

In only his second year in the sulky he finished the 2013 season with 90 winners. This year he has already reined 130 winners.

Siegelman, who turned 22 years of age this past February 22, has recently been doing double-duty, also racing regularly at Saratoga Raceway, and he added three winners to his seasonal resume on the Saturday night card of Aug. 3 at Saratoga.

A quiet young man whose star is certainly on the rise, Siegelman isn’t one to celebrate openly. He lets his prowess speak for him. However, he recently said, “I plan on being in this business for a long time and hopefully these things are just the beginning of great things to come.”