by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway; Stacey Ruddick, Hoosier Hoofprints

Monticello, NY — After February 7, Jordan “the Kid” Stratton can make a claim that no other teenager can: winning a race at two different racetracks on the same day.

Stratton, all of 19 years of age, began his day with a driving victory at Monticello Raceway in the afternoon and capped it with a victory at the Meadowlands in the evening.

Thasos’ victory was the first of two on the day — the other at the Meadowlands — for Jordan Stratton.

The youngster, son of trainer Dave Stratton, guided Thasos to a decisive two length triumph in one of the Mighty M’s $12,500 winners over trots after being a bridesmaid in his previous two starts.

“The Kid” moved his trotter first-up at the half, wore down the pace-setter, Match That (Eric Goodell), and then went on to an easy victory in a time of 2:03.2 on a very cold and windy afternoon.

The 9-year-old altered son of Cher Gon is trained by Stratton’s dad and owned by John Kiwczak of Sarasota, Fla. Sent off as second choice in the race from post position seven, Thasos paid $7.20 for win.

Upon completion of the Monticello action it was off to the Meadowlands, some 90 miles away in East Rutherford, N.J., and “the Kid” obviously made the trip feeling pretty good about himself.

His only drive that night at the Big M was behind McJates Shadow, a decided outsider in the ninth race. They left the gate from post position six and when the starting bell rang McJates Shadow was 48-1 on the tote board.

Undaunted by the horse’s odds, or the top class professional drivers he was competing against, “the Kid” followed cover in the outer flow then fanned three deep in the final turn and rallied down the center of the track to score a neck victory over Feel The Pulse (George Brennan) with Patronizing and Cat Manzi three lengths behind in third place.

And many of the Big M patrons obviously took notice of Stratton’s victory, especially since his pacer, owned by PM Investments-PGL, paid a whopping $99.20 for win. The exacta [aod $588.20 while the trifecta returned $3,970.70.

In two years of driving, young Jordan has won 40 of his 250 starts.

“The Kid’s” victory marked the second time in a week that a teenager — Devan Miller being the other — won a race at the Meadowlands.

With that triumph Stratton now has won 10 races (seven at Monticello and two at Yonkers Raceway) and has 11 seconds and seven thirds in 64 seasonal starts, which gives him a very respectable .288 UDR this year.

He is the son of Janine and David Stratton, who recently relocated to Monticello from Ohio. The elder Stratton is an accomplished trainer, developing such Ohio stars as Indian Fever.

Undoubtedly, a teenager winning against seasoned professionals is a headline story, but Stratton wasn’t the only one to win a $12,500 trot at Monticello Raceway on February 7. Frank The Hands and driver Ray Schnittker won the other.

Racehorsephoto.com photos

Ray Schnittker and Frank The Hands cruise to their second consecutive victory.

The Credit Winner 4-year-old is beginning to show the form that made him one of the most feared competitors in the New York Sire Stakes program two years ago when he won seven times in 12 starts and earned over $163,000 in purse money.

After sitting second as the field headed for the quarter pole, Schnittker moved his trotter to the front and as it’s often said “that’s all she wrote.”

Once on top Frank The Hands made every pole a winning one, coasting to a 2:02.2 victory over Affaro Hanover (Jimmy Marohn). Cassatt ended up third for driver Jimmy Taggart, Jr.

It marked the second consecutive victory in this class for Frank The Hands. Owned by Schnittker, Kelks, Inc., Frank Baldassare and Paul Doherty, Frank The Hands returned a $5.30 win mutuel.