Kevin Wallis reached a plateau shared by only 10 other drivers in North American harness racing history when he won his 10,000th career race with Strong Profile in Pompano Park’s 11th race on Monday night, April 18.
The Ontario-born Wallis, who bought part ownership in his first horse, Claybrook Copper, at the age of 12, has been driving winners since the late-1970’s with his peak years, in terms of wins, coming during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, when he won 652 and 629 races, respectively, in those years.
During his grand career, Wallis, while competing generally in overnight events, has driven some exceptionally talented horses, including Breeders Crown winner Burning Point, the game pacer Robitaille, Illiana, a winner of 27 races during the 1996 season, Royalflush Hanover and the one he considers his “first good one,” Merrywood Tyrone.
Owners have benefitted to the tune of over $48 million with the horses he has driven.
Upon achieving this lofty plateau, the soft spoken and articulate Wallis said, “to be in the same category with greats like Campbell, Lachance, David Miller, Manzi, Filion and Palone, just to name a few, is very humbling.
“I am blessed and thankful that I was able to achieve this milestone and that I have been able to stay healthy enough to compete at this level for this many years and at this stage of my career.
“There are a lot of young, talented drivers out there today along with us veterans and we are all thankful to be able to competitive in a safe manner.
Strong Profile, a four-year-old gelded son of Jeremes Jet owned by Stuart Lawrence along with trainer Bryan Lawrence scored in 1:53.1, a new lifetime mark, as the 4-5 choice in the Pompano Park finale, a claiming event for pacers.
Wallis, needing two wins on the Monday night program to reach the coveted plateau, set up his historic win by earning win number 9,999 with his own Sailer Eddie in the featured Open Trot, leading at every pole in scoring a 1:55.3 victory over Cashahallic (Mike Micallef) with Jesses Promise (Mark O’Mara) next. Genius At Work and Bambino Hall picked up the minors in that event.
Sailer Eddie, a six-year-old altered son of Cantab Hall, won for the second time this semester in 15 starts to send his 2016 bankroll to $25,846 and $313,091 lifetime.
As the 7-5 choice, Sailer Eddie paid $4.60 to win.
Racing continues at Pompano Park on Tuesday night with first post set at 7:30 p.m and a carryover in the Super Hi-5 finale of $13,108.33.
(with files from Pompano Park)