USA
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Europe
UK / IRE
With the harness racing season just recently kicking off in Manitoba, this feels like a good time to meet the drivers in charge of getting the horses around the half-mile oval at Miami Fair and, eventually, the brand-new Loop in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Paula Mason, Michel Rey and Tyler Grundy were discussed in Part 1, and Part 2 covered Cory Manning, Darryl Mason and Dean Rey. The next three drivers up are Blake Piwniuk, Kevin Hildebrandt and Marc Fillion.
Blake Piwniuk
Blake Piwniuk started driving in 2010 and has made 865 starts since then. He has also made starts at Northfield Park, Alberta Downs, Century Downs, and Fraser Downs. Piwniuk has 161-lifetime wins and is over $445,000 in earnings.
Piwniuk is Manitoba’s reigning Top Driver of the Year, with an impressive 38 wins in 94 starts. He had a UDRS of 0.601 in 2022 and earned over $130,000 as a driver. Last year was his best statistical year as a driver. His 2023 started the same way his 2022 went. He won four of his six starts during the opening race card at Miami Fair and almost matched the track record with Keystone Tenacious (So Surreal).
Kevin Hildebrandt
Since Kevin Hildebrandt started driving in 2018, he has made 166 starts and earned 12-lifetime wins as a driver. He has also been training since 2012 and has made 533 starts. He has picked up 47 wins and has earned over $197,000 as a trainer.
He won four times in 39 starts last year in the sulky. Hildebrandt has already won on opening day at Miami Fair with AK Nite Lady (Andreoli Hanover). He also finished second place with another Andreoli Hanover-sired filly, AK Black Badger.
Marc Fillion
The man who wears orange, white and blue silks is Marc Fillion. Fillion started driving in 1997 and has had over 2700 starts since then. Over that time, he has amassed 251 wins and has earned just shy of $600,000. Fillion has also been a trainer since 1996. He is fastly approaching 200 career wins as he sits at 193. He also has over $469,000 in earnings as a trainer.
Fillion made 24 starts last year and visited the winner’s circle thrice. He made over $20,000 in the sulky and had a UDRS of 0.318. He had four starts on opening day but could not find the winner’s circle, but it won’t be long before he does.
Racing continues at Miami Fair on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CDT. The Loop is set to open on August 5. “Meeting the Manitoba drivers: Part 4” will be posted in the coming days.
by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink
