by John Berry, for Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — When Rick Plano won the third race at Hoosier Park on Thursday night (May 4), it marked a milestone for the Plano family as Rick and his son, Luke, now have a combined 10,000 career driving wins.

The 65-year-old Plano has 6,836 of those wins (along with 3,728 career training wins) while Luke, who recently turned 37, has amassed 3,165 wins in his career dating back to 2000.

Ironically, Plano reached the milestone 10,000th win by driving the 3-year-old Well Said filly Flirtswell to her maiden win over a sloppy oval in 1:56.2. Flirtswell is a homebred filly bred and owned by Lawrence Keethe and John Darrah.

Immediately after the race, Plano said, “Well, now that we have achieved 10,000, it’s time to start on the next 10,000.”

Two races later, he did exactly that.

Driving Secretsoftheknight, owned by wife Maryann along with Michael Guest, the classy 8-year-old son of Mach Three scored in 1:53.4 over the rainy oval.

Plano reflected on the milestone win by saying, “I have been blessed to be able to compete successfully for over 40 years. This sport has been great to our family and, as a breeder, owner, trainer and driver, we have been blessed.

“I am very proud of Luke and his accomplishments and, with his help and a little more longevity, maybe we’ll add a few thousand more.

“This is a great sport and our breed of horse, in my eyes, is the greatest in the world.”