by Charlene Polk, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Dover, DE — Green and white clad Vince Copeland might be a new face at Dover Downs, but he is certainly not new to racing.

The Michigan native and winner of more than 4,400 races recently made the big move from the Wolverine State to the First State.

Fotowon photo

Vince Copeland is a new face on the Delaware circuit.

“The bottom fell out of Michigan racing,” Copeland said. “I had to make a move or starve. I wanted a place that raced year round, that wouldn’t sit idle for six months or something.”

And so Copeland, minus his wife and two daughters, arrived in Delaware in September. He says the hardest part of the move was leaving his wife and children, one of whom is in college and the other in her last year of high school.

“That’s been the toughest part,” he said. “You miss your family.”

He has stayed occupied, however, training a stable of seven horses and working to get all the catch drives he can. With his credentials (winner of 4,437 races and $21,352,399) and experience, Copeland is beginning to pick up drives for trainers such as Bobby Clark, Doug Lewis and Josh Green.

“I wish I was doing a little better on the track but that’ll come,” Copeland said. “I’m starting to drive some nice horses.”

Some of those are in Copeland’s own stable, which includes the Keystone Raider progeny Itchy (2002, p,6,1:52.3h, $259,019) and Faithfully (2003, p,4,1:52.4f, $254,119). Copeland also trains Noble Niner (1999, p,5,1:53.3f, $170,892).

Itchy appears to have adjusted well to the Delaware air, as he took his lifetime mark at Harrington last month and recently finished second in the winners over $16,000 last five class at Dover.

Copeland, who has been driving since the 1970s, says that during his short time on the Dover-Harrington circuit he has noticed that the racing is a bit different than it is in the midwest.

“They go fast here,” he said. “They go a time. There are no slow quarters here — it’s a little more competitive.”

But Copeland, who has averaged 215 wins a year since 1989, is here to compete, especially for Delaware’s lucrative purses.

“If you can get the right horses you can really make some money,” he said.