Kurt Sugg Reaches 6,000 Career Wins Aboard Get In And Go at Northfield Park

Circling the field from dead last to the winner's circle, Kurt Sugg notched the 6,000th driving victory of his career Sunday, March 15, at Northfield Park, guiding the eight-year-old gelding Get In And Go to a half-length triumph over Mohatu As in the fourth race.

Sugg, a Bowling Green, Ohio native who trains Get In And Go himself, dropped the Trixton-Mazda Hanover gelding to the back of the six-horse field early before launching his charge to the outside past the quarter in :28.2. Get In And Go caught the hung-out favourite Mohatu As, driven by Dan Noble, nearing the half in :58.1, then pulled three-wide alongside the battling leaders at three-quarters in 1:27.3. On the final turn the gelding edged ahead of the inner two and kept battling through the stretch to defeat a stubborn Mohatu As by a half-length in 1:57.2. Gabbys Rockytop, piloted by Aaron Merriman, finished third. The winner returned $16.80 and recorded his 14th career victory in 113 starts. Rebecca Sugg, Adam Friedland and Jamie Miller own the horse.

The milestone caps a career that began when Sugg made his driving debut in 1986. He is the son of Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Famer Ivan Sugg and has accumulated 6,000 wins across 47,384 career starts, with driving earnings exceeding $42.4 million. His best single season came in 2020, when he posted 384 victories. He has also compiled 1,068 wins and $7.2 million in earnings as a trainer. So far this year, Sugg is 53-for-378 in the sulky.

The milestone performance came on a night when Aaron Merriman provided the program's other headline, sweeping five races on the 14-card card at Northfield. Merriman, who sits second in the Northfield standings behind Dan Noble, won with El Toro Loco ($7.80), Spitfire Oversees ($3.00), Risenshine Seaside ($4.40), Macmorris Hanover ($3.00) and Bettor B Sirius ($4.40) to push his season total to 164 wins in 793 starts.

Sugg's 6,000th victory, earned in a race he trained for and drove himself, stands as a marker for what four decades of consistency in North American harness racing produces: a career woven through more than 47,000 starts and built one race at a time.