by Tammy Knox, publicity director, Hoosier Park

Anderson, IN — Hoosier Park Racing and Casino concludes its 80-day meet Saturday (July 11) with the Million Dollar Indiana Championships featuring $1 million in purse money over the 14-race program. Several Indiana Sires Stakes finals will be contested, and leading driver Peter Wrenn will be involved in nearly every race to close out the 16th season of harness racing.

A native of Michigan, Wrenn has led the standings from the start this season. He joined the drivers’ colony in 2005 and fared well, but returned back to Michigan to fulfill driving and training obligations on the Michigan fair circuit. This season marks the first full year of driving and training at Hoosier Park with positive results.

Linscott Photography

Peter Wrenn has captured the 2009 driving title at Hoosier Park.

Through the first 77 days of action, Wrenn has scored 149 wins, the fifth highest tally for one season in the 16-year history of the track. In all, Wrenn has 296 wins this year through July 9, ranking seventh in the nation for wins by all drivers. He is closing in on 8,000 career wins to rank 18th on the list of all-time drivers in the history of harness racing.

Now stabled at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Wrenn also fared well as a trainer. He is tied for sixth place on the list of trainers this season with 21 wins from horses in his barn. He and his wife, Melanie, condition both younger horses for the stakes season as well as older veterans, including Dynamite Diva, who scored several wins in the Fillies and Mares Invitational Trot earlier this season. Younger horses such as Reminic have also had strong showings in late closer action.

Wrenn will receive the Gregg Haston Leading Driver Award during the final day of racing. The award is named in honor of Haston, an Indiana native who was the track’s first leading driver and trainer in 1994. Haston was tragically killed in an automobile accident during the 1996 meet at Hoosier Park.

Wrenn has secured the top spot in the driver standings, but the trainer standings will move right down to the final races of the meet. Heading into the final three nights of racing Mark Deaton has a one-win advantage over Ron Burke for the training title. Don Eash is in third, just four wins off of Deaton’s tally of 38 wins for the 2009 season at Hoosier Park.

Following the final day of racing, Hoosier Park will offer a special outdoor concert by The Beach Boys in The Yard, located between the casino and the track. The concert will begin at 8 p.m.

Hoosier Park Racing and Casino would like to thank everyone for their patronage during the 2009 harness racing season. Also, a special thank you is extended to all horsemen who participated during the racing meet.

For more information about Hoosier Park Racing and Casino, visit www.hoosierpark.com.