Longtime horseman Donnie Rankin Jr. eclipsed $20 million in driving earnings on Wednesday, Jan. 28 as he finished third in the fifth race over a “good” track at The Raceway at the Western Fair District with Workinitonbroadway.
Going into the card, Rankin needed less than $1,000 to reach the milestone, and he made progress in his first drive with a fifth-place finish behind The Dark Lord. In his second, he settled Workinitonbroadway into the four-hole and shifted to the outside heading into the final turn but was caught in a blind switch. Rankin worked the Broadway Hall-Working Girl gelding, whom he owns and trains, out of traffic as they entered the stretch, and Workinitonbroadway surged for third to push the reinsman past the $20 million mark. R Royal Port (Austin Sorrie) was a dominant winner, 6-3/4 lengths the best over Toscano Girl (Jay Harris). Rankin completed his evening with a show finish in the eighth race with the Mike Timpano-trained Poppa Joe.
Rankin, a native of Nova Scotia, has been an Ontario mainstay since the late 1980s. He has won 4,879 races in the sulky and reached the $20 million plateau in 37,659 starts. On the training side, the Amherstburg, Ont. resident has 1,624 wins and $9.4 million in earnings in 12,339 races, many of which came with horses he owns.
To view Wednesday's harness racing results, click the following link: Wednesday Results - Western Fair Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)