Columbus, OH – Brent Holland didn’t come from a typical harness racing family, who have fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts who grew up in the business.

Brent Holland got his 6,00th career win last Thursday at Yonkers Raceway. Mike Lizzi photo.

Holland, who won three races on Thursday (Dec. 14) at Yonkers Raceway to reach the 6,000-win plateau in his career, didn’t come from that kind of a family. He got started with horses due to a friendship that his mother had.

“We lived next door, half a mile down the road, from the Hagemayer breeding and training farm, in Clarksville, OH,” said Brent’s mother Peggy. “My husband and I went to school with Della, one of the Hagemayer kids. I used to go over to the farm and Brent started coming with me when he was 10, 11, or 12.”

It was there that Holland became interested in the horses and sought to get some hands-on experience with them.

“The grooms there taught him basic grooming, how to clean stalls and wrap legs. Then he started jogging horses. I think the first one he ever jogged was named Cincy Peggy,” explained his proud mom.

A local driving contest was the next step leading to his professional driving career.

“Later, he was part of the OHHA (Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association) driving contest and made different connections there,” said Peggy Holland. “That was really helpful because we were not a typical horse racing family with connections.”

But just as things started to get rolling, Holland had a setback that almost ended his career before it even started.

“When he worked at Scioto Downs in high school, his hands split open so we took him to Wright State to be tested for allergies,” recalled his mother. “We found out that he was allergic to horses, brown dye and some chemicals. So he switched from brown gloves to black and white ones.”

Luckily, as a driver, he doesn’t have to have his hands on the horses. But he demonstrated superior skills as a horsemen before he even started driving professionally.

“When Brent was working for Tony Williams and Castleton Farms in Wilmington, Ohio, they had an injured horse that they paid $200 for but never thought that he would make it to the races,” his mother explained. “He took care of that horse, Easy Authority, who did make it to the races at Scioto Downs.”

“Because of that, Brent was a finalist for the Red Smith Caretaker Award,” added his mother.

According to records, Holland’s first two drives came in 1988. He won his first pari-mutuel race in his first start at Lebanon Park in Ohio at the age of 18 aboard E Cs Best the next year in 1989. He got his 6,000th win in New York but drove a few years in Chicago earlier in his career.

Last Thursday night, his milestone win came on his third trip to the Yonker’s winner’s circle in the seventh race on the favorite State Senator ($4.90). His previous two wins that night were with P L Oscar ($8.10) and Gingras Beach ($12.80).

Through Wednesday (Dec. 20), Holland has added six more wins that have boosted his career earnings to $75,736,658.

Not bad for a guy who didn’t have any family connections in harness racing and is allergic to horses.