Tag: Ken Weingartner

Maynard Miller planned on giving Indiana-bred female pacer Walkin On Sunshine a chance to compete out east on the Grand Circuit, but first he wanted to provide her the opportunity to mature and ease into the transition from racing against fillies at age 3 to mares at age 4. After watching Walkin On Sunshine close out her 4-year-old campaign in 2024 by winning seven of her last 10 races — including the Indiana Sire Stakes championship for pacing mares — and open this season with a victory in the Fillies & Mares Invitational at MGM Yonkers Raceway, even Hannibal Smith would likely love the way the plan appears to have come together.

Andrew Harris figures he is likely to get emotional when the time arrives later this month for Abuckabett Hanover to be formally honored as harness racing’s best older male pacer. On Feb. 23 at Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla., Abuckabett Hanover will be among the horses and people honored at the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Dan Patch Awards banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment.

Willowtime, who was runner-up to T C I for the 2023 O’Brien Award for best 2-year-old male trotter to compete in Canada, will make his U.S. debut for new owner Tom Pollack on Saturday (Feb. 8) when he faces nine rivals in a $24,000 conditioned trot at The Meadowlands.

It hasn’t taken long for The Bird Dance to catch on in trainer Antonia Storer’s stable. A 10-year-old New Zealand-bred pacer, The Bird Dance arrived in Ohio at the beginning of the year and has posted two wins and a second in three starts for Storer at Miami Valley Raceway. The gelding’s most recent score was in the $36,000 Open on Jan. 26, and he will return to that class Sunday (Feb. 2) to hoof it against seven rivals.

If getting on the racetrack more often is the key to learning for a young driver, Justin Irvine’s 2024 workload provided something of a master class. Irvine, an Ohio native who turned 23 in December, competed in 2,350 races last year after making fewer than 3,100 starts combined through the first six seasons of his career.

From his earliest days sitting behind a racehorse, Steve Reisenweaver displayed a bit of a competitive spirit. Reisenweaver followed his father, Roy, into harness racing and was jogging horses by the time he was 7 or 8 years old.

Ayr Corleon made a name for himself overseas and will be looking to do the same now in North America. He returns to action Saturday at The Meadowlands, where he is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in a $15,500 conditioned pace.

Noel Daley entered 2024 believing he had two of harness racing’s top 3-year-old colts, pacer Captain Albano and trotter Sig Sauer, in his stable. Exiting the season, those horses were named Dan Patch Award winners and helped propel Daley to his first Trainer of the Year honor.

Jeremy Smith in 2024 won the first Grand Circuit race of his career, set career highs for purses and driver’s rating, and captured the driving title at Miami Valley Raceway. Yet for all his accomplishments, he was left to wonder what might have been.

Cody Poliseno set career highs for wins and purses in 2024 and got this year off in a special way — as the leading driver in North America. At least for several hours.