On Tuesday, Nov. 28, Ron Burke added another record to his Hall of Fame resume by becoming the first trainer to win 1,100 races in a single season.
Burke entered Tuesday's action with 1,099 wins on the year — a career best that surpassed the 1,093 victories the Pennsylvania-based trainer posted in 2014. Semi Tough was a wire-to-wire winner for driver Yannick Gingras at Yonkers Raceway in the second race on Tuesday to bring Burke to the 1,100 win plateau.
About an hour later a few states to the west, Burke added another victory courtesy Ontario Sires Stakes graduate Sea Can, who connected for Burke and driver Chris Lems at Northfield to give the trainer 1,101 wins as of press time.
Only Burke and driver Tim Tetrick have posted seasons with more than 1,100 wins. Burke is the only trainer to post a season with more than 1,000 wins — a feat he's accomplished five times. His totals now stand at 14,445 lifetime wins with $322 million (US) in earnings.
As I have mentioned before,…
As I have mentioned before, the GREATEST stat EVER in harness racing! Don't care how many horses Ronnie races in a year, to beat all drivers is simply unfathomable. Most trainers to win 1000 in a lifetime is an honor. This stable did it in 11 months! Congrats!