Brittany Kennedy has been around harness racing her whole life and on Sunday (July 15) she filed another notch in her racing career as she scored her first win as a driver.
Kennedy was at the controls of 13-year-old trotter Winzel and took advantage of a textbook two-hole trip behind favourite Stonebridge Score and Tyler Borth before popping out down the stretch for the fifth race win at Dresden Raceway.
“It feels pretty amazing and it feels even better to win with Winzel -- he’s pretty special to me,” said Kennedy.
Winzel has been part of the Kennedy family since he was a three-year-old in 2008, trained by her father Todd Kennedy until Brittany took over the conditioning in 2014.
“It’s not just special to win with Winzel, it’s also special to win here at Dresden Raceway," said Kennedy. "My dad used to live in a trailer where the entrance is to the backstretch so this track is important to our family history too.”
Kennedy, who is a Registered Massage Therapist, drove with the patience of a veteran driver as she sat second on the pylons through fractions of :30.2, 1:00 and 1:30.2, and rolled Winzel to the outside to step off a last quarter of :29.4 for the win in 2:00.3.
“The only thing that would have made today a little more special would have been to have my uncle Rick here to celebrate," added Kennedy. "He drove horses and so did my grandfather Jack Duck.”
Kennedy is partners with Jack and Nancy Holmes and does the training for the Royal Strength gelding, who is a 49-time career winner.
Donnie Rankin was on fire again Sunday as he guided GD Cruise For Gold to his fourth straight win and also drove On The Take to his fifth win in six starts. Rankin is the owner, trainer and driver for both pacers, who won the first two races on the program.
Rankin also drove six-year-old pacing mare Action Royal Grin to a two and a half length victory in 2:01.3 in the 10th race finale to give Gary Freer his first career training win from just four starts.
Sunday's handle at Dresden Raceway was $26,265, which puts the track up almost $30,000 over last year’s total handle.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Dresden Raceway.
(With files from Dresden Raceway)