Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Palone Scores Career Win #11,000

                         Dave Palone
               Dave joins only three other drivers
               in North American harness racing
                  history to win 11,000 races!

July 12, 2006

Driver Dave Palone notched the 11,000th win of his illustrious career, highlighting W.N. Reynolds Memorial Stakes action at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Wednesday afternoon.
He became the fourth driver in North American harness history to accomplish the feat, joining Herve Filion, Cat Manzi & Walter Case Jr.

Palone got the historic win aboard Gel Mibson, a two-year-old trotting colt making his debut, in 2:02:3. It was the third and final Reynolds win of the day for Palone, all for trainer George Teague Jr. Palone also won with Fiore Hanover, a filly who won her second straight in 1:55:4, and Warrawee Imprint, a colt who trotted to a win in 1:59:2 in his first lifetime start.

A fixture at the Meadows, where he has been the leading driver for a dozen years, Palone has recently embraced travel and the Grand Circuit. He’s picked up drives with some top horses in recent years – in 2005 he won the Little Brown Jug with P-Forty-Seven and was second in Breeders Crown races with two-year-old trotters Mr Pine Chip and Macaria Hanover. He also won the Allerage with older trotter Hellava Hush. In 2004, he was second in the Breeders Crown with Allamerican Inca, runner-up in the Sweetheart with Up Front Norma and second in the Woodrow Wilson with Up Front Charlie.

“I’ve been able to hook up with some good horses,” said Palone, 44. “I really enjoy the stakes racing now; I love to travel now. I used to love to pile up the wins, but now it means a lot to me to drive in the top races. I’ve kind of stayed here [at the Meadows] and it’s tough when you’re not on the Meadowlands circuit to pick up the top horses. It’s a great feeling when people have the confidence to turn the lines over to you to race those kinds of horses.”

Palone is a four-time winner of Harness Tracks of America’s Driver of the Year Award. He has put together a streak of 14 consecutive years with at least 500 wins; no other driver has ever done it for more than six straight seasons.

“Those are the kinds of things I’m proud of, and I’m fortunate,” Palone said. “I’ve never had an injury that kept me out more than a couple months. I’m very fortunate, knock on wood. It’s been a long grind, and it’s very satisfying to get there.

“It’s awfully satisfying to have my name up there with guys like Herve and Cat. It’s a lot of work. It’s tough to stay on top of your game for as many years as I have. I’ve stayed here at home, at the Meadows, and been a bang-it-out type of grinder. I enjoy racing on the Grand Circuit, but knocking around the Meadows for 12 months a year – that’s going in a lot of circles.”