Meadowlands Pace Yonkers Cards and Driving Stats
Well Said and Judge Joe Added Credentials and Ron Pierce Doubled
Sep 19, 2009
Standardbred driver Ron Pierce is making a serious run at the year's driving earnings title. On July 18, he steered 2009's top pacer and overall leading money winner Well Said to New Jersey's Meadowlands Pace title. On August 29, Pierce scored in the Yonkers Trot at Yonkers, New York with Judge Joe.
Last year's top harness racing driver, Tim Tetrick, won nearly $20,000,000 in purses by the time he drove Kadealia to an upset win in 2008's three-year-old fillies division in the season's big Standardbred finales, the Breeders Crown races at East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Pierce's victory in the Yonkers Trot, the Standardbred world's second jewel of the Triple Crown series for trotters, came to fruition while this season's leading money earner trotter, Muscle Hill, was cruising to a 7-1/2 length victory the same night in the $200,000 American National at Balmoral Park in Crete, Illinois.
Pierce's double whammy put him about $2 million behind Tetrick's leading purse bankroll this year.
Leading Standardbred Drivers of 2009
(Driving statistics through the September 9, 2009 Issue of The Horseman and Fair World magazine.)
- Tim Tetrick -- Starts, 2,375; Wins, 488; Seconds, 359; Thirds, 302 -- Total Earnings, $10,723,700
- Ron Pierce -- 1,866 - 238 - 230 - 223 -- $8,730,344
- Brian Sears -- 1,675 - 278 - 239 - 236 -- $8,687,344
- Jason Bartlett -- 2,340 - 504 - 353 - 310 -- $7,453,278
- David Miller -- 1,920 - 286 - 249 - 266 -- $7,314,485
- Dave Palone -- 1,925 - 484 - 319 - 227 -- $7,069,472
- Jody Jamieson -- 2,151 - 519 - 352 - 224 -- $6,434,457
- Andy Miller -- 2,094 - 336 - 267 - 230 -- $6,369,074
- Yannick Gingras -- 1,940 - 298 - 285 - 244 -- $6,358,131
- Daniel Dube -- 2,080 - 278 - 270 - 252 -- $6,267,502
Pierce finished in fourth place in track earnings last season behind David Miller (3rd) and Brian Sears (2nd). Tetrick took second in last season's number of wins column with 881 to Tony Morgan's 890 scores.
Finish of 2009 $1 Million Meadowlands Pace
- Well Said -- driver, Ron Pierce; margin of victory, 6 lengths; time, 1:47.3
- Vintage Master -- ( Dube) - 6 lengths back
- If I Can Dream -- (George Brennan) - 9-1/4 lengths
- Chasin Racin -- ( Sears) - 11-1/4 lengths
- Schoolkids -- ( Palone) - 11-1/2 lengths
- Ideal Danny -- ( Gingras) - 11-3/4 lengths
- Arctic Warrior -- (D. Miller) - 13-3/4 lengths
- Hypnotic Blue Chip -- ( Tetrick) - 14-1/2 lengths
- Art Colony -- (John Campbell) - 15-1/4 lengths
- Pair A Dice -- (Mike LaChance) - 16-3/4 lengths
$670,774 Yonkers Trot Finish
- Judge Joe -- driver, Pierce; margin of victory, 3-3/4 lengths; time, 1:56.1
- Neighsay Hanover -- (Cat Manzi) - 2-3/4 lengths back
- Calchips Brute -- (Jim Morrill Jr.) - 3/4 length
- Citation Lindy -- (Ray Schnittker) - 9-1/4 lengths
- Broadway Bistro -- (Bartlett) - 9-3/4 lengths
- Select Yankee -- (Stephane Bouchard) - 10 lengths
- Truth In Action -- (LaChance) - 12-3/4 lengths
- Celebrity Athens (filly) -- (Marcus Johansson) - disqualified by gait break
The third race in the trotting Triple Crown, the Kentucky Futurity, is scheduled for October 3. The Standardbred Breeders Crown eliminations are set for October 16, 17, and the BC finals will be held October 24.
