Monticello: Bruce Aldrich, Jr. wins 9,000th race

On Wednesday February 25th, the aptly named Win And Dream gave Bruce Aldrich Jr. his 9,000th career win. The winner is trained and owned by Steven Ray of New Berlin, NY and the 8 year-old gelding won in 2:01 3/5 paying $17.80.

Born into a family of rich New England Harness Racing heritage, his father Basil Aldrich had been competing long before the USTA even began record keeping. With Bruce being indoctrinated at an early age, it didn’t take long before Bruce got the harness racing itch and started his own career.

His first year of racing was 1985, finishing third in his only start. Gradually from there he continued his journey. In a short span of five years he had 189 wins and earnings of $172,803. Bruce has been a mainstay at Monticello Raceway for decades and the 57-year-old Aldrich is a six-time leading dash-winning driver at Monticello Raceway. In his career he has been behind the starting gate 53,666 times, with 7,993 place finishes and 7,179 times finishing third, and career earnings of $37,250,000. He has earned over a million per year in purses an amazing 17 times thus far in his career. His best year was 2015 - 663 wins and $3,361,218 in purse earnings.

In his 41 year career, Bruce has driven many horses but one that sticks outs for him was Royal Heart, who set a world record at Saratoga that was only broken by Wiggle It Jiggleit. Royal Heart also paced one of the fastest miles ever at Monticello Raceway in 1:51 4/5.

Following the epic win, Bruce was greeted in the winner's circle by friends and drivers, Bruce wasted no time in his quest for his 10,000 wins, scoring with Kenobi, just two races later.

-edited release (Monticello Raceway)