Ronnie Wrenn Jr. again topped the local driving ranks in 2016, winning 612 races at Northfield Park.
His nearest competitor, Aaron Merriman, drove 533 winners. Kurt Sugg (305), Jason Merriman (291) and Ryan Stahl (275) completed the top five reinsmen.
Wrenn, 30, resides in Stow, Ohio and now has five driving titles under his belt. He won the dash titles at Northfield Park in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He also won the Northville Downs title in 2013.
Wrenn's 2016 total victory tally was 690, which ranked him second among all drivers in North America. Only Aaron Merriman (891) had more total wins in 2016 than Wrenn.
Wrenn began driving in 2008 and has since won 3,658 races and purses in excess of $19 million. Wrenn’s fasted win ever came in the 2015 edition of the $225,000 Jim Ewart Memorial at Scioto Downs aboard Doo Wop Hanover in 1:49.2. His richest was with Whataboy in last year’s $250,000 Ohio Sires Stake Final for sophomore colt pacers at Northfield Park in 1:51.3.
Northfield Park’s 2016 leading trainer Brian Loney won 30 more races than any other local conditioner. He garnered 136 victories throughout last year.
Michael Dowdall finished second with 106 wins. Sam Schillaci (105), Jessica Millner (85) and Sue Stockwell (69) rounded out the top five Northfield Park trainers for 2016.
Loney, originally from Hager Hill, Kentucky, now lives in Northfield, Ohio. He and wife Harla Renae have three children: 16-year-old son Gannun, 12-year-old son Payton and seven-year-old daughter Polly.
Loney, 38, scored his first training win with the gelding pacer Stealth Fighter at Fairmount Park in 1996. To date, he has 1,476 career victories and purse earnings over $4 million.
The 2016 Northfield title is the fifth local dash victory for Loney. He has also won titles at Bluegrass Downs, Fairmount Park, The Red Mile and Thunder Ridge.
Wrenn and Loney will each be presented with a plaque and dining gift certificate to the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park in a winner’s circle ceremony later in January.
(With files from Northfield Park)