HARRISBURG PA – The first winner of a race in 2017 North American harness racing was named Saulsbrook Lanny, who was home first in the opener of a matinee program at Truro Raceway in New Brunswick, Maritime Canada. The race went off at 1:01 p.m. Atlantic time, which is one hour ahead of the U.S.'s earliest zone, Eastern time, so the clock would have read 12:01 p.m. on the Eastern seaboard when the gate sprang at Truro.
The name "Lanny" is the "second name" of this equine winner and also the first name of the father of the driver who won the first 2017 harness race in the United States. The Who's songline of "Meet the new boss … same as the old boss" was never more appropriate as Aaron Merriman, who had just finished 2016 with 891 victories to top all North American sulkysitters for the second straight season, was the first U.S. driver to take a pari-mutuel contest in the New Year, guiding King Muscles to victory in the curtainraiser (6:07 p.m. EST) at Northfield Park.
Aaron Merriman will be honored in Las Vegas the last weekend in February at the Dan Patch Awards Banquet Sponsored by Hoosier Park, receiving the Leading Dashwinner trophy; a fellow driver (and Buckeye) to be honored will be the 2016 Driver of the Year as voted by the event's host, the U.S. Harness Writers Association, Hall of Fame horseman David Miller.
…And in the oddest of circumstances, King Muscles, the first winning horse in the U.S. in 2017, is owned by … David Miller! But this Miller is David E. Miller, a 38-year-old resident of Millersburg OH, while Hall of Fame David Miller has the middle initial of "S."