It's hard enough winning three races in a day in any capacity, but trainer David Menary and driver Jason Ryan upped the ante for achieving extremely rare and unique triples over the past few weeks in Canadian racing.

Training triples aren't uncommon, but on Saturday, June 20 there was a first-of-its-kind training triple at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Trainer David Menary sent out three winners on that evening, and all three of those horses broke the 1:49 barrier in victory — a first for a single trainer at a Canadian racetrack. Menary's trips to the winner's circle came courtesy Christopher Dance N (1:48.2), Open winner Waffle Blue Chip (1:48.3 by a neck over stablemate Brue Hanover) and Borderline Mobby (1:48.1) to close out the rare trio of tallies.

In North American harness racing, the sub-1:49 training triple transpired three times before Menary's trifecta. The first came almost 12 years prior to the day — June 21, 2014 at Mohegan Sun Pocono. On that card, trainer Ron Burke sent out At Press Time (1:48.2), All Bets Off (1:48.3) and Sweet Lou (1:47.4) to sub-1:49 victories. He just missed a fourth win faster than 1:49 in the finale of that 16-dash card but Clint Westwood connected in (just) 1:49.1.

The Red Mile in Lexington, Ky. would be a logical location for this level of speed, and sure enough the red clay factored into a speed show courtesy horses from the Nancy Takter stable on Oct. 11, 2020. As part of a four-win day, Takter's speedsters Tall Dark Stranger (1:47.2), Peaky Sneaky (1:48) and Kissin In The Sand (1:48) all paced in 1:48 or faster. Trotting filly Spoiled Princess (1:51.1) was her fourth winner on the day.

Last year, one trainer sent out four sub-1:49 winners on a single card. The trainer? Christi Noble. The track? Scioto Downs. And not only did all four pacers break the 1:49 barrier, they all broke the 1:48 barrier over the five-eighths mile oval on Sept. 13, 2025. Noble sent out four horses on that card, and they all won faster than 1:47.3 for driver Dan Noble — Naturally Gifted A (1:47.2), Sinbad N (1:47), Celtic Spirit N (1:47) and Helium N (1:46.4).

In a harness racing rarity for a driver, Jason Ryan won races at three different racetracks in a single day.

This past weekend on Saturday, July 4, Ryan put together a winner's circle tour in Ontario spanning a 240-kilometre route between Hanover Raceway in Hanover, Georgian Downs in Innisfil and Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville.

The Guelph, Ont. reinsman started the day with a full card of drives in the afternoon at Hanover Raceway, where he won back-to-back Prospect Series divisions with a pair of Gregg McNair trainees, Revenge Dress and Will Farroh, in the seventh and eighth races. Ryan then headed to Georgian Downs for half a dozen drives through the evening card's first seven races, picking up a victory with Acefortyfour Coco in the opener for Craig Gilmour. But a double-header wasn't enough for Ryan, who made it to Woodbine Mohawk Park for one final drive in the 12th race, winning a Pop-Up Series final to close out the card in rein to Dalton Shard N for trainer Francis Guillemette.

Just how rare was the accomplishment? According to official Standardbred Canada records dating back to 1992, a driver has earned wins at three different Canadian racetracks in a single day on just three other occasions. The last time was 18 years ago on June 30, 2008 when Brad Forward won a total of five races across the Ontario raceways at Dresden, Western Fair and Grand River. Randy Fritz won races at Mohawk Racetrack, Flamboro Downs and Georgian Downs on April 3, 2004 and Steve Condren also had a touring triple on July 6, 2002 with wins at Flamboro Downs, Woodbine Racetrack and Georgian Downs.

The feat is a little more common stateside, with drivers winning at three different tracks in a single day 42 times in the U.S., most often done by David Miller (five times), Joe Bongiorno (four times), Jack Moiseyev (three times), Tim Tetrick (three times), Yannick Gingras (twice), Andy Miller (twice) and Jeff Nisonger (twice). Tetrick's busy day on June 23, 2011 yielded the most wins of the travelling reinsmen, with 10 across Pennsylvania's Pocono Downs and Chester Downs and New Jersey's Meadowlands Racetrack. The most common trifecta of tracks for this occurrence -- happening 11 times -- spanned the combination of New Jersey's Freehold Raceway and Meadowlands Racetrack and New York's Yonkers Raceway.

(Standardbred Canada)