Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — Mike Merton has experienced the thrill of more than 4,000 driving wins, three track championships and 27,000 drives since the late 1980s, but none of that will ever erase the memory of his first amateur race. What made it so memorable, is that he did nothing.

“My very first drive was with a horse named Sweet S Melody, or something like that,” Merton said. “My brother (Bob) was training it for a guy named Alan Simon and it was a little nerve wracking.”

Maybe more than just a little.

“I actually missed the gate,” he continued, laughing at the memory. “We finally got going in the mile and I was like a statue, I never moved. I just sat there. My brother said ‘What was that? What were you doing just sitting there like that?’ I said ‘Well, I was a little nervous, I didn’t know what to do.’ And he said ‘If you’re gonna drive you can’t be like that.’”

Fortunately for Bob, his brother was a quick learner.

“The next week it was the same horse,” Merton said. “I got back out there, now I’m like ‘Oh man this is easy.’ I might have finished second or third. By then I got the hang of it. This wasn’t as bad as it was the first time. That first one, it was a bit different racing than from when I first jogged my horse and trained it down with him and followed him with just the two of us.”

Mike Merton has experienced the thrill of more than 4,000 driving wins, three track championships and 27,000 drives since the late 1980s. Geri Schwarz photo.

Shortly thereafter, in 1988, Merton enjoyed his first driving victory at Monticello Raceway with a horse named Unbeatable Star. His friend, Loyal Pratt, was a young trainer who confidently told Mike “I’m gonna give you your first win.” Merton’s response was predictable.

“I said, ‘Well I hope you’re right.’ And he was right, I got it.”

He has been winning ever since, at predominantly two tracks. Throughout his career, Merton has raced at Monticello, where he and his family moved to from Long Island in 1975. He began at Tioga Downs in 2006, and won track championships at both places in 2018. Proving himself to be no fluke, he won the Monticello title again this year.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said of 2021. “I never expected it to pan out the way it did. After COVID and everything being shut down and people having problems getting back with their horses and off a long time. It’s unbelievable.”

Merton has recorded his second most victories this year with 313, surpassed only by the 376 he won in 2018. He has also earned the second most purse money of his career with $1,497,215, which he also bettered only in 2018 with $1,653,749.

He drove no superstars, just solid citizens.

“They pretty much were almost all the same level, none that were really outstanding,” Merton said. “This year (trainer) Rob Harmon of Harmon Stable helped me out a lot. I had a lot of drives for them, and did very good for them. They had some nice horses to drive. I appreciate him using me, giving me the opportunity.”

Merton and Harmon met around eight years ago and the trainer began using him every so often at Tioga. He then gave him drives in Monticello and it has worked out ever since.

“He’s the main one I drive for right now,” Merton said. “I get my other ones that I pick from. Whatever ones I think are the better ones to drive. You know how that works out. Sometimes I make the right choice, sometimes I don’t.”

He has made the right pick 4,155 times, as that is his amount of lifetime wins. Mike has hit the board more than 12,000 times in his career and his mounts have earned $15,624,027.

It was a memorable 2021 Independence Day for Mike Merton who got his 4,000th win at Tioga Downs. Fred Brown photo.

One of the more special victories came on July 4 of this year. While the latest Hall of Fame class was being inducted in Goshen, Merton was collecting his 4,000th win behind Solo Story at Tioga.

“That meant a lot,” he said. “When I first started out I wasn’t getting many drives early in my career. To be honest I never thought I’d get 1,000 the way it was. To get 4,000, it means a lot. A lot of people recognize you’re doing a good job for a bunch of people. You get the opportunity for other guys to put me down and give me chances on their horses.”

Merton is from a racing family. His father trained and drove in the 1970s into the ’80s, but broke his leg in a bad accident. Doctors told him if he kept driving and broke the leg again, he would probably lose it, so he called it a career.

But his sons were all involved by then. Bob opened a stable and Mike would help him jog and train after school. Despite his dad’s horrific accident, Mike was not scared off.

“I’ve been in a few wrecks myself,” he said. “It’s like anything. You can’t be afraid. You got to get back up. If that’s what you love, get back up and go at it and keep going. If you think like that, you might as well not even do it. If you go out there scared, it won’t work.”

Mike’s courage has remained intact for more than three decades, and he hopes to keep on going. Merton turned 50 on Dec. 18 and, if his health holds out, can see himself doing this for 15 more years. After that, he wants to travel.

“In this business it’s hard to do anything,” he said. “I don’t want to go into the grave right from doing this, I want some time off to enjoy myself and do things.”

For now, however, his enjoyment comes from driving. And while he is mostly an upstate New York driver, he did venture under the bright lights during his banner year of 2018.

“I went to the Meadowlands after Tioga closed,” he said. “Harmon asked me if I would go there, drive a few for him and give it a shot. I said, ‘Yeah, why not.’ We did pretty good there.”

It mattered not to Merton that it was a one-time deal.

“At that time the purses weren’t as high, the top guys weren’t really going there,” he said. “So once they got whatever they worked out and the purses got up to where they are, those guys all came back.”

Thus, the small track drivers returned to their roots, which was fine with Merton.

“I was happy, I had my chance there, I did good and it was nice,” he said. “But I’ve got no complaints with where I’m at.”