Dave Palone, the leading driver at The Meadows Racetrack, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now five wins away from being the leading harness driver in the world. He won three races on Wednesday and has 16,749 wins at the end of racing on November 12.
The current record of 16,753 wins is held by Heinz Wewering of Germany, so Palone needs four to tie him and five to surpass him and take the record. Wewering has seven drives scheduled on Sunday, November 16 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 has 12 races on Friday, so it is possible the record-tying and breaking wins could come on Friday. The Meadows does not race on Thursdays.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.