Lexington, KY – Lauren Tritton’s résumé already boasts several history-making accomplishments, and over the course of the two-night Breeders Crown championships at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Friday (Oct. 23) and Saturday (Oct. 24) in Columbus, Ohio, she hopes to make more memories.
Tritton, who had more than 900 driving wins in an accomplished career in her native Australia before coming to the U.S. in 2020, already has a Down Under Breeders Crown title to her credit, and she has two chances to add a second Crown trophy to her mantel. If successful with either Too Pink To Pass in Friday’s $700,000 Two-Year-Old Filly Pace or Darlin’s Angel in Saturday’s $664,500 Three-Year-Old Filly Pace, the 33-year-old Tritton would become the first female driver to capture a Breeders Crown final in North America.
While women trainers in the winner’s circle have become a common occurrence in the 43-year-history of the Breeders Crown, Tritton will be just the fourth female driver to attempt to take home a Crown trophy, and only the second to have a drive in a final. Karen Fekete (1998), Jacquie Ingrassia (2008 and 2010) and Riina Rekila (2010) all had elimination drives but failed to advance to the final. Only Brooke Nickells in 2001 with Lavecster in the Three-Year-Old Colt Trot reached the final, finishing ninth.
“Winning a Breeders Crown would be beyond my goals, but I’ll take it,” said Tritton, who in addition to helping her husband Shane train a stable of 30 horses is mother to son Levi, 9, and daughter Emily, 5.
Don’t believe capturing a Breeders Crown title is beyond Tritton’s reach. In 2023 Tritton became the first female driver to win the Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield Park with Lochinvar Art A, who was trained by Shane. Also that year, she became the first woman to drive in a Meadowlands Pace final, finishing 10th with It’s A Me Mario (also trained by her husband) after finishing third in the elims. Another feather in Tritton’s cap came in 2025 when she became the first female driver to win three races on a card at the Meadowlands.
When the Trittons arrived in the U.S. six years ago, Lauren concentrated on helping her husband train their stable. Tritton had only seven driving starts in 2020-21, but since then she has picked up the pace. This year she has already posted career highs in wins (68) and purse earnings ($1.28 million). Overall, she has 177 wins and $2.67 million in purse earnings on this continent.
Tritton admits it was a learning curve once she embarked on a North American driving career.
“It was basically the way races are run here,” she said. “They are a lot faster and are only a mile, where we would race (in Australia) a mile and a quarter. There we would look for a slower second (quarter) but that’s frowned upon here. So, the speed of the races, that was a little hard.”
Tritton said she received favorable advice from some current U.S.-based drivers she competed against Down Under, including Dexter Dunn and brothers Andy and Todd McCarthy.
“We all raced against each other for a long time and if I do need anything they are the people I go to,” she said.
On the flip side, she said she also received some pushback, but that those words essentially lit a fire under her.
“I was actually told that women don’t belong here driving and I wouldn’t fit in at any track, so I might as well give up on that idea,” said Tritton. “I was told that it was a boys’ club here and I wouldn’t be welcomed. It was game on from there.”
Fast forward to now, and there are some who compare Tritton’s talents to those of the late Bea Farber, recently inducted as an Immortal into harness racing’s Hall of Fame. Farber, widely considered the greatest female driver, won 1,801 races over her career and several driving titles in the 1970s and ’80s.
“I didn’t really know much about her and watched as many of her races as possible,” said Tritton. “She reminds me of the same mindset as myself. We both work hard and we just love the horses, and the adrenaline and love to race. And we don’t worry about the other stuff.”
There were no elims needed for Friday’s Two-Year-Old Filly Pace. Tritton will start from post 2 with Too Pink To Pass, who is attempting to become the first horse to break its maiden in a Breeders Crown final. Trained by Shane – who like Lauren is making his Breeders Crown debut – Too Pink To Pass has finished second four times in nine starts, and the Steve Jones-bred, Joshua Graber-owned daughter of Huntsville comes into the race off a fourth-place finish in the $250,000 Big Apple final for freshman filly pacers at Vernon Downs.
“It would be awesome to break a maiden with a 2-year-old in the Breeders Crown,” said Lauren Tritton. “Juvenile races are high on my list as they are very hard to win.”
As for Darlin’s Angel, who starts from post 6 on Saturday, Tritton has been behind the Hot Lead Farm homebred daughter of Captaintreacherous in all 19 career starts, which includes eight wins and a trio of seconds this year in the Jugette, Lynch Memorial and Shady Daisy, all graded stakes events. Darlin’s Angel finished third in her Crown elim to advance.
The pairing of driver and horse is perfect, according to Darlin’s Angel’s trainer Juan Cano.
“When we entered her for her first start in the Kindergarten there were 11 horses entered and she got the 11-hole,” remembered Cano. “There was a shortage of drivers that weekend, so I looked at the early races, and I saw Lauren’s name there. She took the drive and gave her a really good trip and ended up finishing fifth. Ever since she’s been on her and she’s gone everywhere with her. She’s helped develop her to become the nice filly she’s become.
“We wouldn’t want anybody else on her either. She’s so kind to the horses. She talks to them and I think fillies really respond to that.”
Tritton agreed with Cano that talking to the horses helps greatly.
“I drove a couple of 2-year-olds for them early in qualifiers and I had my recording glasses on, and I sent a video to them,” said Tritton. “They couldn’t believe how much I talked to the horses. I don’t even realize I’m doing it. I’m an equestrian from way back, so I think being on top of the horse pays off as I get along really well with a lot of high-strung fillies.
“And that’s crazy because they call me a high-strung filly,” she added with a laugh.
History could be on Darlin’s Angel’s side as her dam, Darlin’s Delight, appeared in five Breeders Crown finals, with three second-place finishes (all behind My Little Dragon) and a third-place finish, while her second dam, Town Pro, was the first pacer to win two Crowns, capturing titles at 2 and 3, in 1989 and 1990.
“(Darlin’s Angel) is so fast off the gate and we love using that for our best interest,” said Tritton. “She needed the run last week as she’d been off three weeks and will be tighter this week.”
Tritton hopes someday that she can stop being identified solely as a female driver, and a Breeders Crown victory could go a long way toward that.
“It does bother me, especially in a country where they make it a big deal when it shouldn’t be,” she concluded. “Here it’s like whose record am I breaking and who else is going to break that? It does get a little annoying.”
Scioto Downs will host all four Breeders Crown championships for 2-year-olds on Friday (Oct. 23) with the remaining eight finals to follow on Saturday. First-race post time both nights is 6 p.m. (EDT). Friday night’s action will be aired on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) from 8-11 p.m. and Saturday’s on FOX Sports 2 (FS2) 7-10:30 p.m.
For more information about the Breeders Crown, visit the Hambletonian Society and Eldorado Scioto Downs websites.