by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — When Tony Morgan was a young child, his father, Eddie Morgan, Jr., introduced him to friends as harness racing’s next world’s champion driver. He turned out to be prophetic.

On Tuesday night, Morgan’s award-winning career reached another milestone when he became only the fourth driver in history to win 14,000 races. Morgan, 53, accomplished the feat at Dover Downs, winning with pacing filly Timmylynn in the 15th race.

“He’s the sixth generation of my family to be involved with horses,” said Eddie Morgan, Jr., who won 4,724 races in his own career and still trains a couple horses. “I figured that surely he’d learn something out of six generations.

“What he’s done is quite an accomplishment. I’m proud of him.”

USTA photo

Tony Morgan won his 14,000th race on Tuesday at Dover.

Tony Morgan, who was born in Ohio, rose to prominence in Chicago and now calls the Delaware circuit home, had a chance to get win No. 14,000 in front of his family last Friday at Northfield Park, near Cleveland, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“That was kind of a bummer, but everything worked out last night, so it was OK,” Tony Morgan said. “It’s nice. It’s probably more important to my dad and my family. My dad is a doting father, I guess you could say, so he gets to be proud for a while. He gets bragging rights for a while.”

Eddie Morgan watched his son’s milestone win on the simulcast feed at Sports Creek Raceway in Michigan. At almost the same moment, driver Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. was guiding Morgan’s pacer Quick Step to victory at Windsor Raceway in Ontario.

“They were in the winner’s circle at just about the same time,” Eddie Morgan said. “I enjoy watching him. He’s a student of the game.”

Tony Morgan’s family ties extend back to the first win of his career. Morgan, then just a month shy of turning 15, won with Peachakona in a matinee race at Celina, Ohio. The horse was owned by his mother, Sharon.

“I was really young and hadn’t been driving very long,” Morgan said. “It was my mom’s pet. It was kind of nice to win with him. Your first win is always a big deal when you’re a kid. It was a nice way to get my career started.”

Given Morgan’s win total, it is remarkable that he did not reach the 2,000 victory level until the age of 35. His career took off from there, however. In 1994, while in Chicago, he won 447 times, good for sixth place in North America, and the following season he started a run of three consecutive years at the top of the driver standings. From 1995 through 2009, Morgan was never out of the top 10 and racked up 10,695 wins during that span.

He was Harness Tracks of America’s Driver of the Year in 2006, 2002, 1997 and 1996. He is one of only three drivers to win more than 1,000 races in a year, totaling 1,004 in 2006.

“If I had to pick any one thing that helped my career, it was when I started using my own race bikes,” Morgan said. “When I went to Chicago every set of stirrups was set for Dave Magee. He’s about a foot shorter than me and I was never comfortable at all. I started using my own bike in the mid-90s and it was a big turnaround for me. It was like night and day. It just worked out. From then on everything was just roses, really.”

Morgan, who trails only Herve Filion, Dave Palone and Cat Manzi on harness racing’s career wins list, has not established any long-term goals for the rest of his career.

“I’m a day-to-day guy; I’m not a long-term goal-setter,” he said. “I just try to have a good day every day and turn the page if I have a bad day. I’m still working and I still enjoy the work. If I didn’t enjoy it I doubt I would be very successful at it. You have to be pretty dedicated.”

And even though he doesn’t make a point of chasing numbers, Morgan admitted it is rewarding to hit a number like 14,000.

“I’ve been really fortunate,” Morgan said. “I’ve had some really good people in the business support me over the years and give me good horses to race. It’s not hard to do good when you get to that point.

“Other people are a lot more conscious of (the milestones) than I am, but it’s nice when you hit them. And it’s always nice to be recognized by your peers. When people you’re around all the time and have raced with your whole life recognize you as doing something good, it means a lot.”

Starting with his dad, who predicted something good before Morgan’s whole life was off to the races.