Dave Palone’s trip to the Breeders Crown was memorable, to say the least, and for a variety of reasons. His journey to Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto resulted in two wins, a world record and a milestone

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Palone won the $652,535 Breeders Crown for two-year-old male pacers with Sweet Lou, in a world-record 1:49 mile, and the $602,340 Breeders Crown for two-year-old male trotters with Uncle Peter. He won them in back-to-back races and those victories helped propel Palone to $100 million in lifetime purse earnings. For the night, horses driven by Palone banked over $890,000 as he became the 13th driver in history to reach the $100 million level.

John Campbell leads the money list with $276 million, followed by Mike Lachance, Ron Pierce, David Miller, Cat Manzi, Luc Ouellette, Brian Sears, Jack Moiseyev, George Brennan, Tony Morgan, Tim Tetrick, Steve Condren and Palone.

Interestingly, Palone’s two Breeders Crown wins were the most lucrative triumphs of his Hall of Fame career.

“It’s kind of ironic that I would do it on a Breeders Crown night when most of my career I’ve been grinding it out,” said Palone with a chuckle. “I’ve been the ultimate grinder for 27 years, so for it to all come together on one big night it’s extra special. It’s a real honour to move into such elite company. That’s a nice group to be included with. They’ve had such great careers, it’s really phenomenal. When people talk about John’s numbers and the things that he’s done, I don’t think they realize how good you have to be for so many years. It’s not just a year here or a year there.”

Entering Wednesday, Palone had won 14,765 races in his career, moving him within 415 victories of tying Herve Filion for first place among all drivers North American harness racing history. Palone, who is based at The Meadows in western Pennsylvania, has 617 wins this season, extending his record for the most consecutive years with at least 500 wins to 20.

Palone has driven Sweet Lou in all 12 of the colt’s starts, picking up 10 wins including the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship. Sweet Lou won his Breeders Crown elimination race by 2-1/4 lengths over Sing For Me George in 1:50 and captured the final by 7-1/2 lengths over A Rocknroll Dance. Sweet Lou is trained by Ron Burke, who owns the horse with Mark Weaver, Mike Bruscemi, Lawrence Karr and Phillip Collura.

“He’s been so good to me all year,” said Palone about Sweet Lou. “It just worked out where I was able to get him to the front and it would have taken a very good horse to beat him. I felt like we were going pretty good and I felt like maybe I could get away from them in the last turn. When I hit the gas I knew he was going to go a big mile. Actually, I shut him down the last sixteenth [of a mile].

“I was happy for the horse. He was kind of pegged the Pennsylvania champion and I really thought the horse was better than that. I’ve driven some very good two-year-olds in my life and he gave me that same feeling with his intelligence and beautiful gait and attitude. It was awesome to win, especially when your best friends in the sport own the horse. Those are my guys. I’ve been friends with the Burkes my whole life and raced with them pretty much my whole career. I’m very close with the owners.”

One race later, Palone was back in the winner’s circle with Uncle Peter. He picked up the drive when trainer Jimmy Takter, who also was the colt’s driver, was unable to make it to Woodbine because of snow in New Jersey. Palone won a Breeders Crown in 2008 with Takter’s trotter In Focus.

Uncle Peter is owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding, Jim Fielding and Falkbolagen AB. He was named in honour of the Fieldings’ late brother.

“To find out the story behind the horse, it’s just a special story,” said Palone. “I was more than happy to drive for Jimmy. He has been so good to me over the years; it’s another special guy to win for. I was very fortunate, especially with as many talented guys as were in the paddock. The last thing I wanted to do was let anybody down. It’s a nice opportunity to get. I was the beneficiary of some good horses; I think anybody could have driven those horses. It worked out for me.”

Click on the following links to view a photo gallery and recaps and replays of the 2011 Breeders Crown.