Northfield: Home team prevails in Driver's Challenge

The Northfield/Pompano Driver's Challenge concluded on Wednesday (April 12) at MGM Northfield Park, with the home team easing away to victory after another successful night.

While Team Pompano scored five victories on Wednesday, Team Northfield, who came into the night with the points lead, prevailed 248-170.

"It was a great challenge, but we had to defend our house," said Northfield team captain Aaron Merriman.

Chris Lems was one of the hometown team's top earners, capturing two victories throughout the challenge races with Over Six and Favorite Aunt.

Merriman had a consistent evening after not winning a race on Tuesday night, scoring his first victory of the competition with Tom Hall trainee Mickey in the fourth race of the evening.

David Miller led all eight drivers in trips to the winner's circle throughout the competition with four. On Wednesday, he used some of the same tactics he did on Tuesday, scoring in come-from-behind fashion with longshot Bettor's Choice in 1:55 4/5. He would win four races later with favorite Vague Traces.

While Team Northfield pulled off the victory, both teams scored eight wins over both nights of the competition.

Below are the final two-day totals of each driver:

Team Pompano

Joseph Chindano Jr. - 37 Points

Wally Hennessey - 44 Points

David Miller - 56 Points

John MacDonald - 33 Points

Team Northfield

Ronnie Wrenn Jr. - 76 Points

Chris Lems - 49 Points

Aaron Merriman - 66 Points

Billy Davis Jr. - 57 Points

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Both teams represented respective charities that took home prize money following the competition. Representing Team Pompano was the Standardbred Transition Alliance, who received $1,000, while the Cleveland American Cancer Society represented by MGM Northfield Park collected $2,000.

Pompano team captain Wally Hennessey was thrilled with the competition and expressed interest in doing it again. "We'd love to get together again with these guys in another competition," he said.

Director of Racing Dave Bianconi expressed his gratitude for the competition. "It was a fun competition and a great way to shake off the winter," he said. "We'd especially like to thank Gabe Prewitt for thinking of the idea and coming up to fill in as our interim announcer for the past few months."

"We had an absolute blast over the last couple of days and were proud to represent Pompano again for a great cause," said Prewitt. "Thanks so much to the staff and horsemen at MGM for supporting the challenge; I hope we get to do it again at some point."

Live racing resumes on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. with a carryover in the Pick 5 of $5,964 and will feature a $30,000 estimated pool.

--press release (Northfield)--