Trace Tetrick has been the undisputed king of the drivers at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. The 29th season of Standardbred racing came to a close Saturday, Dec. 10 and once again, Tetrick earned the top spot among all drivers to score his ninth consecutive title.
Trace Tetrick was joined by his family for the leading driver presentation at Harrah’s Hoosier Park by Vice President and General Manager Rick Moore. Photo by Dean Gillette
A native of Geff, Ill., Tetrick guided 387 winners to victory this season, the second highest tally in track history following Tetrick’s record setting season in 2021. He maintained a 22 percent win average and an overall UDRS of .342 which pulled in $5.2 million on the season. Tetrick guided some of the top horses in the state this year, including Ponda Adventure, the standout sophomore trotter who won 13 of 17 starts good enough for nearly $400,000.
John DeLong was second in the standings with a comfortable margin of 276 wins followed by Sam Widger in third with 232 wins. Brandon Bates, Michael Oosting, Peter Wrenn, Jordan Ross, Atlee Bender, Joey Putnam and LeWayne Miller finished out the top 10 overall. Nine of the top 10 drivers scored purses in excess of $1 million along with Dexter Dunn, who won 12 races on special visits that netted $1.1 million.
Looking at longshot averages for all drivers, John DeLong topped the charts with 64 of his wins behind longshots. Brandon Bates was in second with 52 followed by Sam Widger with 49.
Tetrick had the best average in off-track statistics. He guided 40 winners over tracks that were affected by weather compared to Sam Widger, who won 19 races in the category.
Overall, Tetrick has 536 wins and more than $7 million in purses, which is a new record for him in money earned. His tally ranks him fourth in North America among all drivers and he is 15 wins behind his older brother, Tim Tetrick. To date, the younger Tetrick has 6,848 career wins from 40,479 starts with a total of $75-plus million in purses. This was the 20th year of driving for the 36-year-old.
Tetrick was joined in the winner’s circle by his wife, Sandy, and their daughter Chloe along with Tetrick’s mother, Maryalice for the awards ceremony. Rick Moore, Vice President and General Manager of Racing, made the presentation to Tetrick and his family.