By all counts, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. has long established himself as one of the Midwest’s most sought-after drivers. After all, Wrenn has over 8,800 wins to his credit, has driven the winners of over $75 million, and won more races than any other reinsman in North America in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons. But it has been Wrenn’s association with a single horse over the past year and a half that has propelled him to the next level: Louprint.
Save for a single preseason qualifier this April, Louprint — who competes as a homebred for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Phil Collura, and is also co-owned by Larry Karr — has known no other driver than Wrenn. The 39-year-old Michigander first took the lines of the son of Sweet Lou-Rockin Racer before his first-ever qualifier on June 4, 2024. And in the 16 months since their first meeting, Louprint has brought Wrenn no shortage of career firsts.
Last October, the Ron Burke trainee’s 1:49.1 win in the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Pace at the Meadowlands gave Wrenn his first-ever triumph in harness racing’s year-end championship series. Eight months later, at Ontario’s Woodbine Mohawk Park, their stakes-record 1:47.1 win over Madden Oaks in the Pepsi North America Cup was Wrenn’s first win in a million-dollar race. And on Sept. 18, at the Delaware County Fair, Wrenn hoisted the Little Brown Jug for the first time after steering Louprint to a straight-heat win in the 80th edition of Ohio’s crown jewel of pacing.
“It was a really cool moment,” said Wrenn. “It’s something I thought about for years — to have a headliner in the Jug and then to win it.
“It’s one of the biggest races in harness racing as far as pacers, so to win a race like that, it’s the win of a lifetime. I was happy to get the win for the connections and put another big win like that on [Louprint’s] résumé.”
The pair reeled off three straight Pennsylvania Sire Stakes preliminary wins — at The Meadows, Pocono Downs and Harrah’s Philadelphia— through May before shipping north of the border the following month to sweep the elimination and final of the North America Cup.
“It was a heroic effort,” reflected Wrenn on Louprint’s Cup triumph. “From the half to the finish, he raced all-out and still held them all off, which was impressive.”
Louprint ground clear of Madden Oaks at the end of a scorching :53.1 first half, fended off a sustained challenge from Dandy Ideal on the far turn, and just barely parried Madden Oaks’ stretch surge to win the season’s first major test for sophomore male pacers.
“I give Braxten (Boyd, driver of runner-up Madden Oaks) a lot of credit — leaving out of the 10-hole with a horse at the time that was viewed as a long shot and almost got it done, and then a couple weeks later he went on to win the Meadowlands Pace.”
Louprint and Madden Oaks were primed to meet again four weeks later, in the Meadowlands Pace, but an emergency orchiectomy (testicle removal) the Monday before the race sent Louprint to the sidelines right before the summer’s big dances. While Madden Oaks and Prince Hal Hanover had their time in the sun after winning the Meadowlands Pace and Adios, respectively, Louprint was on a quick road to recovery.
“You definitely have some concerns, because to have something like that happen with a horse like him is horrible,” said Wrenn. “But Ronnie (Burke) knows how to get horses like him back to top form.”
On Aug. 12, not five weeks after the procedure, Louprint threw down a vicious :26.2 closing quarter to cap a 1:52.2 qualifier at The Meadows, and he followed it up a week later with a 1:49.3 workout.
“I knew he was back and ready to roll,” said Wrenn. “Right out of the gate, he had to race against a couple tough horses in the Sire Stakes. And he beat them pretty easily, which gave me a lot of confidence going into the Pennsylvania final, and then the Jug.”
Louprint overpowered Odds On Outlier for a 1:49.3 score in his return effort, a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes preliminary at The Meadows on Aug. 30. The next week, in the $300,000 series championship, he rallied from the pocket to nab Adios winner Prince Hal Hanover by a neck in 1:48.4.
In short, Louprint was back, but the Jug presented him with two new variables. It was the first time he would race over a half-mile track, and it is the only Grand Circuit event for male pacers that requires horses to race twice on the same day — and both factored into Wrenn’s strategy.
“I think any driver would say that the strategy is to try to get to the front; it’s a track where post position means a lot,” said Wrenn. “If you get to the front and control the race, you’ve got a huge advantage. The two-hole can be a tough spot; there’s been a lot of great horses that got trapped in the two-hole. So, in the back of my mind, I was like, ‘If I can get to the lead, that’s where I want to be.’”
Sent off the 1-5 favorite in his elimination, Louprint got an early jump from post 5 on Prince Hal Hanover, surged forward upon reaching the backstretch, and cleared early leader Papi’s Rocket at the end of a :28.1 first quarter. After rating a :56 first half, Louprint shrugged off a first-over challenge from Ayeaye Captain Deo up the backstretch through a :26.3 third quarter before being taken in hand for the final furlong of a 1:50.3 score, two lengths better than Papi’s Rocket. Prince Hal Hanover, who got away near the back of the field, failed to mount a three-wide rally on the far turn and failed to qualify for the final after finishing sixth.
One hundred three minutes later, Louprint came back for the $500,000 Jug final — and, after drawing the pole over fellow elimination winner Odds On Outlier and being bet down to 1-5 again, he had no trouble dictating the terms from race’s outset. He led a :56.2 stroll through the first lap of Delaware’s famed double oval before throwing down a vicious :53.4 final half to evade pocket foe Odds On Outlier and the first-over Captain Optimistic in 1:50.1.
“His stamina is just incredible,” said Wrenn. “He’s just got a gear that other horses don’t have. He’s proved it by now that he’s a super talented, special horse. But yeah, :26.2 on the end of it? And to do it pretty easy was impressive.”
Louprint’s straight-heat triumph in the Jug landed him back atop the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Top 10 poll for the first time after his midseason layoff, and he further asserted his dominance in the pacing world with a lifetime-best 1:46.3 win over stablemate Swingtown in a $220,000 division of the Tattersalls Pace over the speedy red clay of the Red Mile — his 10th in a row as a 3-year-old and his 17th overall from his first 20 starts.
From a 10-win night at Northville Downs early in his career to two national driving premierships and everything else he’s accomplished along the way, the ride with Louprint has been most monumental for Wrenn.
“He’s definitely been the top of all the highlights,” said Wrenn. “He’s given me an opportunity that I don’t know if I ever thought I would have, but until you have it, you’re not really sure. I was at a good point in my career racing in the Midwest, driving a lot of horses for good trainers, but he’s taken me to another level.”
This story appears in the November 2025 issue of Hoof Beats, the official magazine of the USTA. To learn more, or to become a subscriber to harness racing’s premier monthly publication, click here.