IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Harness racing driver at The Meadows has most wins in the country
Elmo Blatch trotted off the track, slightly sweaty despite temperatures in the high 30s. Right behind the 4-year-old brown gelding was Aaron Merriman, his goggles, helmet and sulky splattered with wet ground limestone from the track surface of The Meadows.
“A good way to start the day!” said Mr. Merriman, who had just driven Elmo Blatch to a first-place finish in the first race of the day Jan. 18 at the harness racing track in Washington County. The day got better when he and Barn Girl won the eighth race — the featured race and the one with the biggest purse.
It was a long day for Mr. Merriman, who drove a trotter or pacer in each of the 13 afternoon races that day at the track in North Strabane. Then a man he calls his “Road Dog” drove him 138 miles to compete in the evening races at Northfield Park, near Cleveland.
That was a typical work day for Mr. Merriman, a professional driver who expects to race 195 days this year. On many days, he drives at both the Western Pennsylvania track and the one in northern Ohio. He also competes around the country in the Grand Circuit, which fan websites describe as the “Big Leagues” of harness racing, with large winnings for owners, trainers and drivers.
Mr. Merriman’s busy schedule and his skill in a two-wheeled sulky behind standardbred horses made him the winningest harness racing driver in the country in 2015 and 2016.
This month he will be honored in Las Vegas by the U.S. Harness Writers Association for leading all drivers in North America in wins. The Ohio chapter of that group gave him its Winner’s Circle Award on Jan. 21.
Mr. Merriman, 38, won a career-best 891 races last year and had won 8,711 races in his career, as of a Jan. 13 report from Harness Racing Communications.
Not that you’d hear any of that from Mr. Merriman, who is friendly and willing to talk about the horses he drives and the sport that is his full-time job, but who claims he doesn’t look at his prestigious statistics.
He spoke during the 15-minute breaks between races.
“You know, he’s not that good,” said a fellow driver, smiling as he walked past.
Mr. Merriman laughed and explained. “That’s Dave Palone. He’s a friend and has the most wins of any driver in the world and he’s in the Harness Racing Hall of Fame.”
Indeed, Mr. Palone, 54, of Washington, Pa., was inducted into the hall in 2010 for capturing some of harness racing’s most prestigious events and piloting many of the sport’s top horses.
Mr. Merriman has been driving horses since 1999. He grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, where he still lives, and attended the University of Toledo for a while but said “it didn’t really fit me.”
He quit to follow the career path of his father, Lanny Merriman, who is a trainer and a driver. His mother, Sheri Leafgren, is a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Unlike thoroughbred racing, where jockeys change clothes for every race to wear the colors of the horse’s owner, harness racing drivers have their own colors that they wear for every race. Mr. Merriman’s colors — cardinal red, yellow and white — complement his red hair.
Mr. Merriman doesn’t brush the horses nor does he put the harness racing tack on them. That’s done by groomers, caretakers, trainers and/or owners. Mr. Merriman just drives them.
Barn Girl’s victory in the $20,000 Filly & Mare Preferred Handicap Trot at The Meadows was a thriller.
The 5-year-old bay trailed by 7½ lengths at the halfway mark but gave it her all to win by 2½ lengths in 1:56.4. Barn Girl triumphed for the 29th time in 58 career outings and extended her lifetime earnings to $377,796.
As they came off the track, a happy William Bercury, the trainer, gave the mare a pat and thanked Mr. Merriman. Mr. Bercury and his wife, Renee, of Slippery Rock, purchased Barn Girl four months ago. They own four other harness racing horses, and Mr. Merriman drives all of them.
“Aaron is not just a driver, he’s a horseman,” Mr. Bercury said. “He knows horses and he likes them, and that makes a difference. I have never seen him put a whip to a horse. He never has excuses after a disappointing race, and he always gives me useful information” about the race that helps with the horse’s training regimen.
Mr. Bercury drove his own horses as a hobby for 20 years but said “Aaron is better on his worst day than I was on my best.’’
Horses have been a big part of the Bercurys’ lives since 1978. At home, they exercise their own race horses and saddle up and ride for fun, Mr. Bercury said.
“Really? I am scared to death to ride horses,” Mr. Merriman told Barn Girl’s trainer. “My dad rides and likes it, but I don’t ride because it scares me.”
Fear is not generally something talked about by harness racing drivers, whose horses get up to top speeds of 30 mph in a closely packed crowd of seven to 10 horses and sulkys.
They don’t talk about injuries either, especially not on race days. In 2010, Mr. Merriman broke both wrists and an elbow during a race, and it wasn’t clear initially whether he would be able to return to the sport. He missed most of that racing season but came back to his full schedule and his winning ways.