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Odds On Racing's
Driver of the Month February 2011
Sam Widger
In the past two decades it's been a common sight to see the colorful montage of Sam Widger's blue, white and maroon colors in the winner's circle of Maywood & Balmoral Parks.
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Sam Widger celebrates career win #4,000
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Sam posted his 4,000th career driving victory on Friday, January 21, at Maywood Park as he guided the aptly named Polar Bear to a neck victory in the 12th race of the night. With temperatures hovering in the single digits and a wind chill factor of nearly 10 below zero Widger remained red-hot finishing up the evening with seven victories while continuing to dominate the driver standings at the half-mile oval.
Widger, 47, also topped $3 million in purse earnings last season for the second time in his career (2006) is zeroing in on $30 million in lifetime purses. Like a fine wine he has really started to blossom with age posting 288,458,381,461,332 & 335 victories over the past six seasons.
"I want to thank all the owners and trainers that stuck with me through the years" said Widger. "I’m thankful they hung in there and never gave up on me. I’m fortunate to come off my best year."
Widger began driving racehorses in 1986, winning one of seven starts that year and $483 in purses. Since that time he’s amassed a career bankroll of just over $14.5 million. His father is trainer James Widger, who got his young son involved in harness racing back in 1982 near Moline, Illinois. Sam is one of ten children.
"My dad was building horse barns in the Quad City Downs area and working part-time as a farrier, and I started cleaning stalls at the Midwest Horse Spa at that time," Sam said. "I went to work for a trainer and was taking care of eight horses by myself."
Sam graduated from training horses to qualifying them, garnering his "P" license in 1987. After that, it only took the young reinsman six more months of driving Standardbreds to obtain his "A" license.
"In 1986 Dad and I started training together at the Spa and we followed the Quad City Downs/Fairmount Park circuit," Sam said. "I didn’t do a lot of driving the first couple of years I had my license. When I came to Chicago in 1991, some trainers started putting me down on their horses."
Sam broke the $100,000 money-earning barrier in 1991, winning 36 races from 304 starts. He remained consistent, winning an average of 50 races per season until 1997, when he visited the winner’s circle 106 times, steering the winners of $410,307.
 "I have a lot of respect for my fellow drivers in Chicago. They are very professional and some of the best in the business."  Sam has driven some top horses on the Windy City circuit, including the Cole Muffler champion filly Juxtaposition, who won the $98,136 American National for freshman pacing fillies in 1998 and 1999 star freshman filly Star Slinger. In 2000 he was the main pilot behind the gutsy filly Cyber Wave, a freshman sensation who racked up nine wins and three seconds in 12 starts, earning $254,774 and a share of the $1 million bonus paid out by the Illinois Dept. of Agriculture. She also became the first Illinois-bred filly to win the Cinderella pace under Sam’s tutelage.
"All were very nice fillies, and all raced tremendously as two-year-olds," Sam remembered. "It’s really competitive here in Chicago, and I’ve learned a lot through trial and error and been fortunate to have trainers stick with me through the good and the bad. This is a tough business and I take my hat off to everyone involved—the trainers, grooms, the owners, and the other drivers. It’s a community effort and it takes everybody to make things work."
"I have a lot of respect for my fellow drivers here in Chicago," Widger noted. "They are very professional and some of the best in the business."
Sam Widger's Career Statistics (through January 31, 2011) Year Starts Wins 2nds 3rds Earnings UDRS 2011 212 58 33 28 $140,858 .404 2010 2197 335 307 284 $3,073,491 .273 2009 2388 332 347 300 $2,617,879 .262 2008 2767 461 405 403 $2,900,382 .296 2007 2659 381 346 315 $2,731,064 .255 2006 2954 458 437 403 $3,375,043 .283 2005 2480 288 355 321 $2,094,184 .239 2004 1007 89 94 117 $584,317 .179 2003 956 88 97 103 $665,851 .184 2002 1698 194 193 206 $1,407,537 .218 2001 1969 241 247 230 $2,233,746 .231 2000 1961 235 246 276 $2,297,430 .236 1999 1714 215 230 222 $1,886,862 .243 1998 1664 210 230 238 $1,631,331 .251 1997 769 106 102 86 $410,307 .249 1996 655 62 73 92 $315,324 .203 1995 383 33 52 43 $153,849 .199 1994 514 50 62 86 $214,903 .220 1993 423 42 41 58 $175,665 .199 1992 403 54 42 32 $214,760 .218 1991 304 36 27 36 $137,383 .207 1990 180 22 27 23 $55,405 .248 1989 194 19 24 35 $43,382 .227 1988 104 4 11 10 $12,295 .129 1987 45 6 5 3 $6,702 .217 1986 9 1 0 1 $483 .148 Total 4,020 $29,379,496
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