Maywood Park honoured its 2008 leading driver Sam Widger and its top conditioner Dave McCaffrey in a winner’s circle ceremony Friday night.

Capturing the driver’s crown was a first for Widger however being atop the trainer’s standings has been a regular occurrence for McCaffrey. It was Dave’s third consecutive Maywood Park title and the 41-year-old Davenport, Iowa native’s fifth in the last seven years at the track.

“It never gets to be old hat, winning a year-long title,” said McCaffrey. “I’m very happy I was able to accomplish it again. Getting to the top this year had a lot more to do about perseverance. And it’s also great to be honoured alongside Sam (Widger) especially since this was his very first title.

Widger had 157 dash winners in 2008 at Maywood, 18 more than runner-up Brent Holland. Widger’s 461 season winners was a personal high for the 45-year-old Canton, Illinois native and placed him in the 11th slot in the final national driver’s race. McCaffrey finished with 58 Maywood Park winners among his 97 for the year. When McCaffrey isn’t busy training horses he has his duties as the president of the Illinois Harness Horseman’s Association. It’s his 12th year on that board and he served as their vice-president for the seven previous years.

When asked how he felt winning his first driver’s title, Widger replied: “It’s a very big honour. I feel very privileged and very much blessed to have won it.”

Sam then went on to explain there’s more to just always driving aggressively on Maywood’s half-miler if you want to have success.

“You have to drive more aggressive here than you do competing on a mile track. But then there are times you here when you need to let your patience kick-in,” said Widger. “There are often times you think you need to be on the outside but if you stay on the rail it can pan right out for you. Over at Maywood if you can catch a couple of guys making a mistake, here and there, you can capitalize on it. And that’s what of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years driving on a half-mile track. Experience absolutely plays a big part of a driver’s success on a track like Maywood.”

(Maywood Park)