When Matt Kakaley returns to South Florida to pick up the Rising Star Award at the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s annual Dan Patch Awards on Sunday, it will be something of a homecoming
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Kakaley started driving qualifiers at Pompano Park when he was 16 in 2004 and two years later got his first career win at the oval with a horse trained by his mom, Linda.
Now 22, Kakaley entered Wednesday with 1,570 victories and $9.3 million in purses.
“It will be good to go back and see everybody,” said Kakaley, who lived in Florida for six years. “It’s kind of surreal, really. It’s amazing how far I’ve come and how fortunate I’ve been. I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities from a lot of great people.”
Kakaley will be just one of the honourees Sunday night when harness racing’s best human and equine performers are recognized at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North. Kakaley won a career-high 499 races in 2008 and set a personal best with $3.99 million in purses last year. In June 2009, at the age of 21, he became the youngest driver to reach 1,000 wins. Doug McNair broke the record last December at the age of 20.
“I was hoping [the record] would last a little longer than it did, but records are made to be broken,” Kakaley said. “Doug is a good driver and I’m happy for him. It shows there is a good group of young guys coming up now.
“Hopefully I can break some other record and someone can pass me again,” he added with a laugh.
Kakaley started to attract attention in 2008 at Northfield Park, near Cleveland, where he finished second to Aaron Merriman in the drivers standings. He picked up 87 per cent of his wins at Northfield that year. In 2009, he got 65 per cent of his 483 victories at the track, finishing third in the standings, as he began to travel more.
Last year, Kakaley spent much of his time at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, where he won 201 races and finished tied for third in the standings. He also won races at Harrah’s Chester, Pompano Park, Tioga Downs, Yonkers Raceway, Dover Downs and the Meadowlands Racetrack.
“It was just kind of a well-rounded decent year,” Kakaley said. “Definitely winning races at the Meadowlands was a thrill. That’s where I always wanted to drive. It was just a big thrill just to go over there and win a couple races and see your name down in nine of 10 races.”
So far this season, Kakaley has been racing the majority of time at Dover. Since the start of this year, Kakaley trails only Corey Callahan and Ron Pierce in wins at the oval.
“It’s been going great,” Kakaley said. “I talked to [trainer] Ronnie Burke about going to Dover. He’s the one who asked me if I wanted to give it a shot. I figured I’d give it a try. There are great drivers here every day, so for me to come in and be as lucky as I’ve been and get the stock I’ve been able to drive is kind of surprising. This is a tough place to get in to. [But] when the top stable uses you, it helps in every other way with other people putting you down.”
As for the rest of the year, Kakaley is planning on a return to Pocono, as well as maybe Chester.
“Hopefully I can pick up a couple horses to follow around when the Grand Circuit season starts. That would be the best thing to happen,” he said. “We just take it little bit by little bit. I just go week by week and hope your name is still on the sheet and you’re still healthy and at work every day.
“I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. This is what I always wanted to do. It’s the greatest job.”
The following is a list of honourees for Sunday’s Dan Patch Awards dinner. Live streaming video of the banquet will be available on the U.S. Trotting Association website, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Trotter, Pacer and Horse of the Year will be announced live during the dinner.
Hall of Fame: Jim Simpson and Walter Russell; Proximity Award: The Horseman & Fair World; Communicators Corner: Gary Seibel and Joe Hartmann; Owner of the Year: Frank Bellino; Trainer of the Year: Jimmy Takter; Driver of the Year: George Brennan; Rising Star: Matt Kakaley; Good Guy: Bruce Saunders; Unsung Hero: Cindi Johnson; Barasch Breakthrough: Jessica Schroeder; President’s Award: Yannick Gingras and Horseplayers Association of North America; USHWAN of the Year: Moira Fanning; Amateur Driver of the Year: Joe Bongiorno; January Davies Humanitarian: Joanne Young; Pacing Broodmare of the Year: Artistic Vision; Trotting Broodmare of the Year: Graceful Touch.
Dan Patch Award winners: two-year-old pacing colt, Big Jim; two-year-old pacing filly, See You At Peelers; two-year-old trotting colt, Pastor Stephen; two-year-old trotting filly, Crys Dream; three-year-old pacing colt, Rock N Roll Heaven; three-year-old pacing filly, Put On A Show; three-year-old trotting colt, Lucky Chucky; three-year-old trotting filly, Bar Slide; Older male pacer, Won The West; Older female pacer, Dreamfair Eternal; Older male trotter, Enough Talk; Older female trotter, Buck I St Pat.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.