In a team sport the word 'dynasty' would be summoned to perhaps best describe what driver Bruce Ranger has accomplished over the past 29 years of his career at The Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park
. His stature took another leap upward on the Saturday, January 15 program as he became the 19th driver in the recorded history of the harness sport to earn 8,000 wins.
"What I'm most thankful for is to be still be here intact and healthy with all my limbs and faculties and a strong desire to come to work every race night and compete," Ranger said in a live trackside TV interview after teaming Four Starz Bling to victory in the $12,000 feature pace.
The name Bruce Ranger has become synonomous with excellence at Pompano Park for more than half of the track's 47-year history. The 51-year-old horseman hailing from Portland, Maine first arrived at Pompano in 1982 after getting started in the business by two of his uncles. He is by far the track's leading all-time driver with almost 6,000 of his career wins counted at the South Florida venue. A true model of consistency, Ranger has compiled over $1 million in driving purse earnings every year since 1998. The thrilling narrow decision over McRyan Michael and driver Ricky Macomber Jr. had Ranger thinking philosophically on the way back to the winner's circle about what the milestone meant in the tapestry of his life and career.
"I was going through life with some wild ups and downs. The underlying cause I found was that I didn't handle pressure well at all," Ranger explained. "I came to the decision to avoid the major racing circuits and position myself to work at becoming a bigger fish in a small pond, so to speak. About the time I turned 40 I found an inspiration, a guidance, a higher power, you could say I found God. Up until then, I defined my own self-worth by what I did in the race bike but now that just isn't the most important thing in life to me, not by a long shot. I still love to compete and live for harness racing to a large extent but I have a sense of peace that took me a long time to find," he added.
Ranger also spoke in his customary thoughtful and humble manner about what the future may hold.
"I still really enjoy training horses and working on the backstretch in the morning," he said. "Some of that is dictated by the economics of the game too, nonetheless I still wouldn't trade in being around the horses. Would I like to be around to reach 10,000 winning drives before my career is over? Well, I think I'd better just concentrate on getting to 8,001 first," he stated.
(Pompano Park)