Dave Palone, the leading driver at The Meadows Racetrack, near Pittsburgh, Pa., is now eight wins away from being the leading harness driver in the world. He won once on Tuesday and has 16,746 wins at the end of racing on Nov. 11.
The current record of 16,753 wins is held by Heinz Wewering of Germany, so Palone needs seven to tie him and eight to surpass him and take the record. Wewering, who picked up two wins last weekend, has no additional drives scheduled at this writing.
Wewering, who is 64, trains about two dozen horses and his wins have come almost exclusively from horses he also trains. He has been German driving champion 29 times and twice won the World Driving Championship.
Palone, who was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2010, has nine races on Wednesday and 12 on Friday, so it is possible the record-tying and breaking wins could come in the next few days. The Meadows does not race on Thursdays.
In other Tuesday action at The Meadows, Count Me In moved easily first over and went on to score in 1:53.2, matching his career best, in the $18,000 Winners Over $10,000 Life/Preferred Handicap Pace.
Away third for Wilbur Yoder, Count Me In pursued the leader, Southwind Pepino, down the backside and had little trouble putting him away. The five-year-old Full Count-Howl gelding held off the rallying Mistress Valentine by a length, with Classicality third.
Marty Wollam trains Count Me In, who now boasts $339,059 in lifetime earnings, and owns with Acadia Farms.
(Harness Racing Communications/The Meadows)