The long journey endured by reinsman Dan Noble to the 2011 drivers' dash title concluded on the New Year's Eve card at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park

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The Ohio based reinsman, who will mark his 29th birthday on January 15, used a perfect second over position in the backstretch to explode away to a widening margin of victory with five-year-old pacer Deep Finesse in the second race on the December 31 card. The result was a life's mark of 1:51.3 for the son of Western Paradise-Deep River Woman, being trained in Florida by Peter Pellegrino for the Baron Racing Stable of Horsham, Pennsylvania.

"That trip worked out just great because I was able to get on the back of Mai Tai Guy who'd been parked to the half," Noble said in a live trackside TV interview with Pompano's Steve Carpenito. "This is the first time I've ever driven at Pompano and it's great to experience the Florida warmth and speeds they go here for myself. It was a long year for sure to pursue this title and I'm really glad I did it, with so much travel from Northfield Park to Scioto Downs to The Red Mile. The top memory I have of the whole year, which seemed like a bit of blur at times, was driving at The Red Mile during Grand Circuit Week. But, I'm ready to go again for 2012. Definitely, I'm going to try and do this again in the New Year even if it means living so much on the road and out of my truck for another year."

His other winner on the New Year's Eve card at Pompano was a front-end score in a life's mark of 1:51.1 for Touch Of Steel, in addition to a runner-up finish with conditioned pacer Final Flash. Noble's final scorecard for 2011 was 773 wins from 2,792 drives. George Brennan was next in the drivers' dash title chase at 754 wins, while Tim Tetrick topped the drivers' earnings category for the year at just over $15.4 million.

(Pompano Park)