Lexington, KY — Hall of Fame driver Tim Tetrick became just the sixth driver in North American harness racing history to reach the 15,000-win milestone when he won a conditioned pace at the Red Mile on Monday afternoon (Sept. 21).
Coming into the day just one win away from the milestone, Tetrick crossed the threshold after lifting Brett Pelling pupil Vandros from a stalking trip to a comfortable 1:52.4 win in an $8,300 event for 2-year-olds, which was his first drive of the day. The colt by Pebble Beach-Agent Q broke his maiden in just the second start of his career after a fifth-place finish on debut back on Sept. 1 at the Red Mile. He paid $2.84 to win.
Tetrick, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019, began his driving career in 1998 at 16 years old driving at fairs in Illinois and began driving full time after graduating from high school in 1999. After just four years competing in Chicago, Tetrick collected back-to-back driving titles before moving his tack east in 2006. The year after that, Tetrick established a season record for driving wins and earnings with 1,189 victories, beating Walter Case Jr.’s record of 1,078 set in 1998, and $18.35 million in earnings, besting the previous record of $15.09 million set by Brian Sears in 2005. Tetrick broke his own earnings record the following year with $19.73 million in purses, which remains the record to this day.
The 15,000-win mark was famously the longstanding ceiling for North American driving records, with Herve Filion holding the previous top mark of 15,183 wins in his storied career. In March 2012, Dave Palone became the second driver in North American history to breach 15,000 wins and then also claimed the all-time driving record from Herve Filion in July of that year. Since Palone took the record, which he holds at over 21,000 wins, drivers Anthony Morgan, Aaron Merriman and David Miller have also surpassed the 15,000-win plateau.
Tetrick currently sits at the corner of another milestone. Ranked third all-time in North American driving purse earnings, Tetrick is just over $3 million away from John Campbell’s former record of $299.89 million, which David Miller broke earlier this year in progress to becoming the first driver to reach $300 million in purse earnings. Coincidentally, Miller also scored his 15,000th win this year. Tetrick trails all-time money leader Miller by $7.7 million.