Lebanon, KY — Driver Atlee Bender scored the 1,000th win of his career on Friday (June 26) when he steered 2-year-old pacing filly Aww Suki Suki Na to a 2:01.2 win for owner-trainer Joey Ayotte in the first of 18 Kentucky Proud events at the Lebanon, Ky., fairgrounds.
Bender, who currently tops the Oak Grove driving standings and is fifth at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, is coming off career-best numbers in 2025, when he won 235 races and $3.66 million in purses from 1,690 starts. To date, the 34-year-old Indiana native has earned over $13.5 million in purses for the connections of the horses he has driven.