Ronnie Wrenn Jr. made his 5,000th trip to the winner’s circle after winning the third race at Northfield Park on Wednesday (Feb. 6) with Body Of Work.
Body Of Work ($2.60) won by a length in 2:00.1. It was the 11th career score for the six-year-old trotter who now has $133,763 in earnings.
The 32-year-old Wrenn began driving in 2008. His 5,000 wins have helped him garner almost $31.5 million in purse earnings. Wrenn is consistently among the top drivers in the country, having won the 2013 and 2014 national dash driving titles, finishing third in 2015 and 2016, fifth in 2017 and second in 2018.
At 32 years old, Wrenn becomes the third youngest driver in harness racing history to hit the 5,000 win plateau. Only Tim Tetrick (27) and Walter Case Jr. (30) have hit that milestone at a younger age.
Ronnie Wrenn Jr. is honoured trackside at Northfield Park following his 5,000th career driving win
Wrenn is a 2005 graduate of Hartland High School in Hartland, Mich. He played centre field for and graduated from Mott Community College in Flint. Although Wrenn comes from a racing family, he did not take an interest and become involved with horses at an early age.
“I was 19 or 20 when I jogged my first horse. I was always really busy with sports and stuff,” said Wrenn. “I didn’t really have time for it.”
However, after weighing his options and slowly becoming more interested with the family business, Ronnie decided on a career in racing.
“I was just sitting at the table working on stuff from school on my computer one night and looked up and told my dad I wanted to be a driver. He looked at me like I was crazy. But I was old enough that he really didn’t have a lot of say, and so far it has all worked out pretty well.”
Wrenn earned his first win behind Artful Power in a $1,400 Billings race at a Michigan fair.
“It was hard breaking in at first. I guess I got lucky to be put on some good horses and things just took off,” offered Wrenn. “My parents and grandparents really helped me a lot as well as countless other people.”
Wrenn’s fastest win ever came in the 2015 Jim Ewart Memorial at Scioto Downs with Doo Wop Hanover in 1:49.2, and his richest was a $275,000 Ohio Sires Stakes Championship.
Wrenn rates the best horses he has ever driven as Arch Madness, Betterluvnexttime, Doo Wop Hanover, Luck Be Withyou, Night Pro, Southwind Amazon and Victory Is Coming.
Ronnie’s favourite horse to drive is Southwind Amazon, who posted 22 victories in 38 starts last year.
“There are many owners and trainers that have given me opportunities and I will be forever grateful to them,” offered Wrenn. “To win races, a driver has to drive fast horses for talented trainers with good owners.”
(Northfield Park)