Dual Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey cracked the top 10 all-time win list in harness racing history on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 12.
Moving into 10th place for most driving wins in North America, Hennessey overtook Dave Magee, who retired in 2015 with 11,869 career driving wins.
Driving at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Tuesday, Hennessey tied Magee's total winning with the Mark Beckwith-trained three-year-old trotter Mighty Deo by five lengths in 1:58.4 in the sixth race. He then moved ahead with a victory in the eighth race in rein to three-year-old pacer Skylight by three-quarters of a length in 1:57.3 for trainer Brett Derue.
Hennessey completed a driving triple on the day in the 10th race finale with seven-year-old pacer General Ward, prevailing by a neck in 1:56.1 for the Beckwith stable.
The 68-year-old native of Prince Edward Island, who has enjoyed much of his success at Saratoga and Pompano Park, now has 11,871 career victories.
While Hennessey has a fair bit of driving to do to catch all-time leader Dave Palone, who just reached 21,000 wins on Nov. 7, his next closest competitor on harness racing's all-time win list is active reinsman George Brennan with 12,055 victories and counting.
(Standardbred Canada)