Freehold: Marshall set to conclude driving career Saturday

For more than four decades, "Diamond Jim" Marshall III has been a driving institution at Freehold Raceway. He'll bring the curtain down on his driving career this Saturday (December 19), after more than 33,000 drives.

His finale will come in the eleventh race, driving Noble Finesse, for trainer Paul Fusco. Post time is scheduled for about 3:50 PM.

Marshall began his driving career in the late 1970s and has spent the majority of his career at Freehold. In his career, he's won 3,818 races, with earnings of more than $25 million. Many of his drives have come for his wife, Donna, a trainer.

Marshall's best year in the sulky came in 2004 when he won 225 races and earned more than $1.6 million. So far this year he's won 54 races from 428 drives, with earnings of $325,584. All but one of his drives this year have come at Freehold, where he's currently in fourth place in the driver standings.

When not driving at Freehold, Marshall serves the assistant starter at the Meadowlands. Next year, he'll begin serving as a judge at Pocono Downs.

His son, Jim Marshall IV, has also driven at Freehold this meet. On October 10, the father/son tandem finished 1-2 in the fourth race, when Jim IV won on Good Day Mate and Jim III finished second on Let's Foal Around.

The first race at Freehold on Saturday is scheduled for 12:30 PM.

-edited release (Freehold)