by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — Of the nine races on the Tuesday afternoon card of April 1 at Monticello Raceway, 20-year-old Jordan Stratton won four and arguably the most impressive of “the Kid’s” triumphs came in the final race on the card when he guided Hogies Cam to the pacer’s fifth consecutive victory.

Hogies Cam, a recent $5,000 claim by trainer Bob Beauregard’s patron Charles Strukel, did his usual thing by again wiring a field of pacers to score a 1:59.1 triumph over a rain-soaked racetrack labeled good.

It was the 10-year-old Camluck gelding’s eighth triumph of the season, but impressively this one came against a field of $10,000 claimers after Hogies Cam’s earlier victories were in the $4,000-$5,000 claiming ranks. And it was the second in a row since Hogies Cam was taken for that $5,000 tag.

Sent off as the even money favorite, Stratton once again sent his pacer down the road and Hogies Cam made every pole a winning one although he had to reach down for a little something extra in the deep stretch to hold off a fast closing Sphinx K, driven by Jimmy Marohn.

“The Kid,” who never says too much and usually lets his driving prowess do the talking, muttered in the winner’s circle after the victory that, “Bob (Beauregard) made a good claim here; he’s (Hogies Cam) a gritty old gelding who loves to win.”

Now with eight seasonal victories, Hogies Cam is currently tied for second — with three others — in races won in North America this year, trailing trotter Rockome Vic by just one triumph.

Stratton began the day by winning both ends of the early double. He guided Jay and Melissa Appleblatt’s Brian’s Return to a 2:00.1 victory in the first race and came right back in the next event to score a 2:00.3 victory with Pacer Enterprises’ Sudden Strike A.

His other Monticello victory came in race five behind Greg Majlowski’s pacer Indy Seelster in a time of 2:00.

With his four victories on the Tuesday afternoon program, “the Kid” has pulled even with Bruce Aldrich, Jr. on the local leaderboard. Now he and Aldrich are deadlocked with 77 triumphs each.

Stratton also won two races on Tuesday evening at Yonkers Raceway and now has 108 for the season, which is good enough to rank him as 18th best in North America.