Already harness racing’s all-time leading trainer — by wins and purses — Ron Burke earned yet another laurel when he collected career training win 15,000 on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. The milestone victory came when Night Watchman captured the seventh race, a $13,513-$16,892 claiming handicap.

Burke began training as assistant to his father, Mickey Burke, who passed away this year. He’s been in uncharted territory for so long that with each victory, he breaks his own record. Yet he indicated Saturday’s win is special to him.

“It takes me back to those days with my father,” he said. “We started out with $10,000 claimers. In fact, a $10,000 claimer would have been our best horse by far.”

From those modest beginnings, Burke has built an empire unprecedented in the sport. Burke estimates that he has more than 300 horses, including over 200 currently in training. He has strings of horses at six tracks. To manage that sprawling stable, he employs a staff of 100. His horses have earned more than $342 million. And all that was the product of a master plan.

“We started it by moving to The Meadowlands,” he said. “Then we decided that we would race at every place that had slots. The last piece was Mark.”

He’s referring, of course, to Mark Weaver of Weaver Bruscemi LLC, which is partnered with Burke Racing in many of those 300+ head.  But Weaver is more than just a business partner. He scouts potential purchases, tapping his extensive network of personal relationships.  It was Weaver’s legwork for example, that facilitated Burke’s import of Irish-bred horses, a pioneering foray.

“By doing all that, he frees me up for training, which is what I like. He’s been more innovative than anybody in working online channels. He should be in the Hall of Fame.”

(For his part, Weaver jokingly refers to the 6-foot-5 Burke as “harness racing’s Bill Laimbeer.”)

Of those 15,000 wins, Burke indicated Foiled Again’s victory in the 2013 Breeders Crown at the age of nine is among the most memorable for him.

“When the crowd stood and cheered for him, I knew he wasn’t our horse anymore. He was everybody’s horse.”

Burke said he expects to maintain his hectic pace as long as he keeps enjoying it. That satisfaction grew even deeper recently when Burke’s son Brad, a University of Florida graduate, joined the operation.

“Now I know what my father meant when he told us how happy he was to have his sons in the business with him.

“I used to do this for the money, but now, I do it for the enjoyment. I enjoy this sport more than ever. I appreciate the horses more than ever.”

Wild Wild Western Upsets Off The Layoff In Meadows Top Pace

On the bench for three months, Wild Wild Western worked out a sensible cover trip, then tipped wide for the drive and sprang a 10-1 upset in the $25,946 Open Handicap Pace on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.

Although Wild Wild Western typically flashes early speed, Mike Wilder opted for the prudent trip in deference to the lengthy layoff and found a seat fourth. But when the six-year-old son of Western Ideal-Caila Fra picked up the live first-over of Sumomentsomewhere A, the game was on. Wild Wild Western outkicked Sumomentsomewhere A in the lane and downed him by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:51 over a “good” surface. So Many Roads rallied for show.

Norm Parker trains the winner, who boosted his career bankroll to $696,687, for Jacobs Creek Racing LLC, Andrew Altobelli and Jon Deters.

Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. and trainer Ron Burke teamed for three victories — including the aforementioned career win 15,000 for Burke — while Dave Palone and Wilder also fashioned triples.

Live harness racing at The Meadows resumes Wednesday, Sept. 3, first post 12:45 p.m.

(Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)