It’s a wrap for 2022

Harness racing had a very exciting 2022 with a speed parade of unparalleled magnitude in the headlines coast-to-coast and throughout North America.

As a wrap to 2022, here are a few more items that caught my eye and deserve mention as we send our way to 2023 and beyond.

In no particular order, I’ll lead off with BRAXTON BOYD and the breakout year he had in 2022. The 22-year-old Michigan native drove his first race in 2017 at the age of 17, got his first of two wins a year later, tacked on eight more in 2019 and got a bit more of an opportunity in 2020, winning 48 times in 433 starts. Boyd gave some solid hints in 2021 while winning 244 races and $1.3 million in purses for owners.

Last season was the breakout year for Brax, winning 270 races with purse earnings skyrocketing to $3,966,040—35th in North America in a very rich and talented roster of drivers. He won races at nine different tracks from the warmth of Pompano Park in Florida to the northern confines of The Meadows, Pocono Downs, Tioga Downs, Yonkers Raceway and The Meadowlands, to name a handful, racing against many of the most talented drivers in North America. But the most striking thing noticed was the fact that he won races for over 100 different trainers, enriching the lives of countless owners.

JORDAN ROSS, who Gabe Prewitt describes as “one of the most talented new, young drivers I’ve seen,” won 153 races last semester, more than triple the number he won the year before (49) and more than triple the number of races he won the year before that (16).

The 25-year-old duplicated that feat in the earnings column, too, winning $1,622,093 last year, compared to $490,376 the year before and $132,804 in 2020. The pride of Covington, Tennessee, Ross began his career humbly in 2015 with five starts (no wins) and, in 2016, had five starts with three wins. Last year, he won at 14 different tracks, including Harrah’s Hoosier Park, Miami Valley, Dayton, Hawthorne and Indianapolis.

His win resume included stakes wins with Apple Valley (Major Bombay) in the $50,000 Plum Peachy Stake at Hawthorne and Rollin Rosie (JK Endofanera) in a pair of Indiana Sire Stakes events worth $69,000 and $68,500, respectively. Ross reached the winner’s circle for over 40 different trainers in 2022.

JOE CHINDANO, JR. actually began his harness racing career at the age of 12 (two days before his 13th birthday) by winning a Matinee event at Goshen’s Historic Track with Kevin’s Apples (Arturo) in 2:05.2. Things didn’t really get too serious until 2016 when mostly on the fair circuit in New York, putting together a scorecard of 48-24-14-4 leading to a UDRS of a lofty .720.

His first year winning 100 races was in 2021 when he won 108 times and $800,000 in purses for the owners—by far, his best year. Last season was even better with 152 wins (15%) and enjoying his first million-dollar year in purses. What’s even more impressive is the fact that he climbed over the million-dollar plateau without a single win featuring a purse as high as $15,000—his Goshen Stakes win in the Landmark being $12,950 with Bullvillespandemic (Bullville Powerful).

Chindano reached the winner’s circle at nine different tracks for 40 different trainers, one of whom was Angie Coleman who lamented, “I think Joe Chindano (Jr.) is a very talented driver and an equally talented trainer. He knows how to take care of a horse on the track and off the track—a rare combination in today’s world of catch-drivers.”

BRETT BECKWITH will turn 20-year-old in a few days. His first winner was when he was 16 when, on May 16, 2019, he won with Dark Pool (Cantab Hall) in 1:56 in an NAADA Series Trot. He won a total of four races that year—and two the next—before heading down to Pompano Park in 2021 where he won a couple of races in South Florida getting some very valuable experience under his girth. He won 113 races that year…and over $1 million in purses, to boot.

Then came 2022 and Brett blossomed with 231 winning drives and over $2.2 million in purses, winning at nine different pari-mutuel tracks and winning for over 60 different trainers. Among his successes were the brilliant Sea Shadows (Shadow Play), Angel Nation (Archangel), Probert (Dali) and Queen Of All (Swan For All), among a host of others, facing formidable competition on the racetrack and in the sulky. When asked whether some of these great drivers intimidate him, he said, “The don’t intimidate me…but I respect them very, very much!”

Of course, there were many others… including Hunter Myers, for example, he’s 24, as of this writing, and won 484 races last year along with $4.4 million in purses for owners. But he had a breakout season a few years back and has been winning races for 10 years already! Trevor Smith, Mitch Cushing and Joey Putnam also come to mind…but they had “breakthrough” seasons years ago.

And then there’s the other side of the coin—the amazing septuagenarians—those folks in their seventies that are still performing as well as ever.

Take “Lady J,” for example…Jacquie Ingrassia.

She’s about to celebrate birthday number 76 in a few days and comes off yet another season with the “dandy” multiple stakes winning trotter Dandy (Cantab Hall).

Lady J had her best purse winning year since 2017 and second best since 2000 in a career that stretches over a half century and includes over 1,100 trips to the winner’s circle.

Of course, she’s best remembered as the first lady to win a triple crown event—that with Goalfish in the Yonkers Trot as the 20th century came to an end.

Much of her success comes from the stable’s trainer and Jacquie’s husband, Frank Ingrassia, whose 90th birthday looms just around the corner.

With Dandy’s success last semester, the amazing Frank Ingrassia went over the $5 million plateau in earnings.

Yet another amazing septuagenarian is Mike Murphy, turning 77 in late January.

Murph’s life story includes 888 lifetime wins as a driver and 438 as a trainer stretching back some 50 years. It also includes facing a debilitating kidney disease with a storybook ending as a “non-blood” relative—a step-grandchild, Jacob Fox—beat tote-board odds of over 1,000,000 to 1 with a matched kidney type which kept “grandpa” alive.

As the masked Murphy climbed back into contention, in 2022 he enjoyed his best earnings ever, led by the stakes winning trotter, Just For Trix (Trixton), and further bolstered by the game veteran campaigner Feelin Lika Winner (Feelin Friskie) saved from the inevitable ending after being plucked off an Amish truck in the “final strides of his life’s mile!”

Then there’s the amazing Rick Plano, now 71 and still building on a career featuring 7,282 driving wins and 4,145 training successes. He may have slowed up a fifth-of-a-second or so due to some serious health issues, but he continues to be competitive with stable stars Toy’s For You (Airzoom Lindy), Flagman (Guccio), Famous Father (Father Patrick), Born To Thrive (Swan For All), Epic Dreamer (Dover Dan) and Sooo Handsome (Cash Hall), among others.

As Plano lamented, “The only issues I have now are the winter months. I just can’t get used to it. The last winter I spent in the cold was 40 years ago—1982. I sure do miss The Pomp!”

Altogether, Rick Plano has sent over 25,000 horses to the starting gate as a trainer alone and well over 40,000 as a driver…and he’s still going strong!

Well, that’a a wrap for 2022…

Wishing all a healthy, prosperous 2023 and beyond…

MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU!!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink