from Meadowlands Media Relations

With a win in Thursday night’s eighth race at the Meadowlands, Brian Sears became the first harness driver in racing history to surpass $15 million in earnings in one year.

With the winner’s share of $9,500 from the $19,000 purse, his total grew to $15,002,234. The earnings record came with his victory behind Ithinki’msomebody.

Sears, the leading money-winning driver in North America for 2005, has two more days to add to that total. The previous single-season record was $14,184,863 set by John Campbell in 2001. Drivers generally earn about five percent of what the horses they drive win.

When the Meadowlands took a holiday hiatus from December 17 through 28, Sears had indicated he was going on vacation and would not be back until January. But he had a change of heart * and plans.

“I originally was planning on coming back from Florida and drive, starting January 4,” Sears said Thursday night. “But I changed my mind. This was something I was thinking about, and it weighed heavy on my mind. Some of my family thought it would neat [to surpass $15 million], and I wanted to do it. It is a great milestone, and I’m so happy that I got it done.”

He still has numerous driving opportunities to add to his earnings total when he competes at the Meadowlands on Friday night [first post of 7:30 p.m.] and Saturday afternoon [first post of 2:30 p.m.]. Sears currently has $2.4 million more than his closet rival, Ron Pierce [$13,443,361].

“The past couple of seasons, I had the opportunity to drive a lot of top horses,” said Sears, who turns 38 on January 21. “That helped me get going. Continuing to drive top horses is a big difference.”

Among the horses contributing to his record-setting season was Meadowlands Pace and North America Cup winner Rocknroll Hanover, a leading contender for Horse of the Year honors.

Through December 29, Sears has posted 398 wins, 330 seconds and 289 thirds from 2,242 starts. While winning 400 races a year is not a novelty for Sears, the earnings mark spotlights the dramatic growth in his career since he arrived at the Meadowlands three years ago. His bankroll was at $2.9 million in 2002, $5 million in 2003 and $10 million in 2004.

“In 2006, I am not going to think about doing it again or trying to better it,” Sears said of the $15 million plateau.

Success does have its hardships. Sometimes it means making tough choices.

“Having to say no to a lot of people who want you to drive their horse [is the toughest part],” Sears said. “You can only do so much. It happens in qualifiers and every night. People you’ve known and driven for a long time, it’s tough, it really is. But they have to realize too that there’s only so much that can be done.”