by John Manzi, publicity director, Monticello Raceway

Monticello, NY — Billy “Zeke” Parker, Jr. copped a pair of races on Wednesday (April 10) at Monticello Raceway and in the process he raised his career total to 10,928, which ranks him seventh all-time in races won in North America.

Geri Schwarz photo

Jon Win was a 1:58.3 winner on Wednesday for Zeke Parker.

He won the featured trot with Jon Win by three lengths in 1:58.3 over Sweet Joe and driver Greg Merton. He also scored behind KZ Too in 2:00.2 for the Dream Away filly’s maiden victory.

Still, Zeke finds himself in unfamiliar territory, being in fourth place on the drivers’ leaderboard, trailing Bruce Aldrich, Jr. by 53 winners.

Over the years Parker has usually been the driving leader here, having copped 18 titles at the racetrack he has called home since the early 1990s.

Asked why he’s again off to a slow start this year, he paused for a moment and then said, “I haven’t had the power I had in the past. It seems like Bruce (Aldrich Jr.) and Jimmy (Marohn Jr.) are getting the live mounts, something that I usually have gotten. But things will probably turn around later in the year….they usually do.”

Take last season for instance. Parker trailed Jimmy Marohn, Jr. by some 70 wins early in the spring but made a race out of it in late December and although at one point he was just two wins behind Marohn, Parker fell short and his 256 winners ranked him second behind Marohn’s 271.

Being the intense competitor that he is, Parker admits that he sometimes gets mad if he doesn’t win.

“I’m a poor loser,” he says, “but honestly, isn’t everybody a poor loser?”

Around Monticello Raceway he’s known as Zeke — and he likes that moniker — although to most harness racing fans he goes by his given Billy Parker, Jr., which seems like a misnomer because one has to wonder, who is Billy Parker, Sr.?

“My dad was William Parker and really, he only dabbled in harness racing. He never drove horses but l once found a groom’s license when he worked for the Mason Stable at Roosevelt (Raceway) back in 1946. He died when I was only 16,” Parker explained.

“It was my Uncle Freeman (Parker) who took me under his wing. I worked for him when I was a teenager. He was a great driver and the top driver in Maine back in the (19)50s and (19)60s. He won over 4,000 (4,132 to be exact) races back when the seasons were short and the trainers drove their own stock.”

Zeke’s illustrious driving career began in the early 1970s and he has won driving titles at every racetrack that he competed at on a seasonal basis. Besides the multiple Mighty M driving crowns he also won driving titles at Scarborough Downs, Foxboro Raceway and Yonkers Raceway.

If you ask him, Parker will tell you that one of his most prized memories was scoring his 10,000th win at Monticello Raceway. It came on May 17, 2010.

Another memorable accomplishment — and there have been many — came right here at the Mighty M on Oct. 26, 1996, when Parker tied a then world record by reining nine winners on the 10-race program. And his 526 driving victories during the 1995 season at Monticello Raceway is still the track record.

At 59 years of age Parker hasn’t lost much, if anything at all. Besides his 10,928 driving victories his mounts have earned $29,827,756, the vast majority coming at raceways where purses were small.

Asked what’s on the horizon for him in the future, he quickly remarked, “I’m especially looking forward to my 11,000th win which I hope to get sometime this summer. That’ll be a pretty big thing, don’t you think?”