The Saturday night, Nov. 30 program brought the 2024 harness racing season at Harrah’s Hoosier Park to a close, with familiar names taking the titles of Leading Driver and Leading Trainer.
Trace Tetrick secured his 11th consecutive driving title and 13th overall, while Tyler George utilized a record-breaking season to nab his fifth straight training title.
Tetrick, Hoosier Park’s all-time leading driver, added one more victory on closing night to bring his total on the season to 281 through 1,614 starts. For the third consecutive season, John De Long finished second with 233 victories, while Kyle Wilfong rounded out the podium for a second consecutive year, winning 212 races in 2024 including his second consecutive Dan Patch Stakes.
“I’m fortunate to have great people behind me and drive a lot of fantastic athletes each year,” said Tetrick during his trophy presentation. “I try to just take it one race at a time and hope to continue to maintain where we’ve been.”
Tetrick heads into the winter months currently sitting 10th in all of North America in driving victories and has reined winners of more than $7.6 million this year. Tetrick will enter 2025 knocking on the door of a pair of milestone -- 8,000 driving victories and $90 million in earnings -- with 7,787 wins currently and career earnings of more than $89.7 million.
After winning his first Hoosier Park leading trainer title in 2020, George hasn’t relinquished the training title since, picking up his fifth consecutive title in 2024. George smashed his own all-time single season win record of 126, which he established in 2022, conditioning 138 winners on the season and batting at .409 UTRS on the year at Hoosier Park.
“We’re very fortunate to continue to have great support from a lot of people -- it’s a team effort,” said George. “There isn’t really one moment or horse that stands out because they are all significant to us, it’s what it is all about for us.”
Beyond his record-breaking season at Hoosier Park, George is on pace to surpass his personal record for victories in a year of 190 (2016), with 188 on the year at the end of November. Banking more than $2.9 million on the season, George currently sits 11th nationally in training victories, batting the second highest UTRS of trainers with 500+ starts of .410. Over the course of his training career, George has conditioned horses to 1,763 victories and banked more than $18.6 million.
In addition to leading driver and trainer ceremonies, a trio of 14-year-olds were honoured who have been staples at Hoosier Park over the last several years as they approach mandatory retirement at the end of the year.
Major Crocker A (pictured below) has been the winningest horse at Hoosier Park since he arrived to Anderson, Indiana in November of 2022, visiting the winner’s circle at the track 28 times since then, 10 more times than the next closest horse over that span (Gruesome Twosome with 18 wins). A career earner of more than $1.1 million, Major Crocker A made the move to North America in 2019 after a successful career down under. Aging like a fine wine, Major Crocker A has won 13 times in each of the last two seasons and 73 times overall for his career. Major Crocker A retired under the care of owners Matthew and Darin Miller.
Sadies Art, a 45-time career winner, arrived at the Hoosier Park one final time with the Tetrick family in tow. Bred by Marie Alice and the late Tom D. Tetrick, the son of Party At Artsplace was trained for the vast majority of his career by Tom T. Tetrick, often with Trace Tetrick in the sulky. Hitting the board 110 times in his 308 start career, Sadies Art saved his best for last as his two winningest seasons came at ages 12 and 14. Taking a mark of 1:51.4 at Hoosier Park in 2020, he matched that career best this season at age 14 in a season that saw him win six times. A career earner of $252,012, Sadies Art has been a model of consistency, winning at least once in each year of his career.
Why Dont U Stay, a career earner of $256,172, was also honoured with owner Mariah and Darrel Wright, who have had the 14-year-old son of Santanna Blue Chip for much the last five years. Making 388 starts over 38 different racetracks, Why Dont U Stay was a 31-time winner over the course of his career. His final victory came at Hoosier Park last summer, scoring in 1:54 with driver Brandon Bates in the bike.
Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino would like to thank all of the fans, bettors and horsepeople who helped make the 2024 season an overwhelming success. Racing returns to Hoosier Park in 2025, with the 160-day meet slated to get underway on Friday, March 14.
(With files from Hoosier Park)