A rainy evening could not dampen the spirits of driver Mario Baillargeon as he hit the major money milestone of $100 million in career earnings on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Baillargeon, needing just $705 to reach nine digits entering the night, finished fifth with the three-year-old gelding Wills Watchin the first of his three drives and banked enough to put him over the top. He also finished second in the finale with Call Me Parker, trained by his brother, Ben Baillargeon.

The reinsman has won 7,899 races in his career, which began in 1977, when he was 19. “Super Mario” raced in jurisdictions across the United States in the 1980s and was one of the top drivers in his native Quebec in the 1990s. He moved to Ontario in 1999 and quickly became one of the Woodbine Entertainment Group circuit’s leading reinsmen for more than 15 years. He was a runner-up for the Driver of the Year Award in 2002, a season in which he recorded more than $8 million in earnings and won the Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Colt Pace with Totally Western. In all, Baillargeon has driven in 55,534 races for earnings of $100,006,395.

In addition to his driving success, Baillargeon was a full-time trainer for The Stable from 2019 to 2023, winning 67 races in 366 starts in that span. In 2019, the Acton, Ont. resident was a finalist for the O’Brien Award for Horsemanship.

Wall Street Bell ($5.50) won the sole $10,000 Pop-Up Series third-leg contest on the card, fighting off Opulent Dragon to prevail in 1:54.2 with James MacDonald in the bike. The series is for $8,000 claimers that are non-winners of $5,000 in their previous five starts, with starters in the first two legs also eligible.

To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Tuesday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park.

(Standardbred Canada)