Already harness racing’s all-time winningest driver, Dave Palone passed yet another milestone on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows when he notched career win 21,000. The historic win came with Green Magic in the fifth race.

Although Palone sets a new record with each victory, he indicated milestone wins remain special to him.

“I never had any number etched in stone, but I’m pretty proud of that number,” he said. “It’s nice to reach it. I feel like I maybe haven’t been pushing myself as hard. I’ve had a lot of half days, a lot more golf this year.”

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Palone, who got his first win in 1983, has now been among harness racing’s elite drivers for more than three decades. He’s achieved at least 400 wins in each year from 1990 through 2023 except for the pandemic season of 2020. For his career, he’s logged more than 81,000 starts and he’s earned nearly $163 million in purses. He was inducted into the U.S. Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

Among his career highlights, he won the 2005 Little Brown Jug with Kelly O’Donnell’s P Forty Seven and he’s also captured three Breeders Crowns (In Focus, Sweet Lou, Uncle Peter) and a pair of Jugettes (Numeric Hanover, Maudlin Hanover). Yet he says his most memorable win may be his lone victory in the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at his home track. He took the 1999 edition with Washington VC for trainer Ron Coyne Jr.

“It was before family and friends, and I’d barely heard of the horse. There weren’t many expectations there,” he said of the highlight.

These days, at 62, Palone drives mostly locally — and why not? He’s closing in on his 35th consecutive driving title at The Meadows.

“I started off racing in a completely different era,” he said, “but the drivers here today are a great group of guys. I really enjoy the camaraderie.”

Palone said he’ll continue to try to grind out wins as long as the effort remains challenging to him.

“I enjoy trying to figure out a new horse and a new race. I guess when that fire’s gone, it will be time to find something else to do. Whatever that something is, it will be with horses.”

And his advice to young drivers who hope someday to dethrone him?

“Show up for qualifiers,” he said. “Stick around for late races and make yourself available for them. And when you’re not driving a race, pay attention to it.”

Benjamin Hanover Equals Meadows Record In Open

Benjamin Hanover smoked the mile in 1:51.3, matching his own track record for four-year-old geldings in Thursday’s $29,444 Open Handicap Trot.

Benjamin Hanover was looped from the gate by Call Me Dani and was left outside, but the four-year-old son of Sebastian K S-By A Neck Hanover was just getting started. He threw down a :27.2 third quarter for Aaron Merriman, opening a daylight lead over Call Me Dani and ultimately swamping her by 7-3/4 lengths. Celebrity Bambino finished third.

Trainer Sarah Andrews and Angela Cornell co-own Benjamin Hanover, who triumphed for the fifth time in his last six starts and lifted his lifetime bankroll to $166,274.

Live harness racing at The Meadows continues on Friday, with first post at 12:45 p.m.

(With files from Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)