Dover: Tim Tetrick reaches 12,000 career wins

Driver Tim Tetrick, who currently sits seventh on the all-time leaderboard for driving wins in North America, reached another milestone on Tuesday afternoon at Dover Downs. The 39-year-old steered Jason Skinner-trained Manone to victory to notch the 12,000th win of his Hall of Fame career.

"It is still hard to fathom," said Tetrick, who was happy he got it at one of his home tracks. "When I started I just wanted to reach 1,000 wins like my dad. For a 39-year-old to get to 12,000, I think that is pretty special."

Tetrick reached the milestone in just 60,561 starts. That equates to an impressive win rate just shy of 20 percent. He trails Dave Palone (19,459), Anthony Morgan (16,785), the deceased Herve Filion (15,183), the retired Cat Manzi (14,812), David Miller (13,212) and Aaron Merriman (12,794) in career wins.

Perhaps more important than wins in the world of harness racing is earnings, and Tetrick sits third in that category, having driven horses to over $228 million in winnings during his career. He trails retired Hall of Famer John Campbell ($299,892,141) at the head of the list, and Tetrick could reach that lofty number in about seven years at his current pace.

"That's the bigger feat in my eyes, a number that Mr. Campbell put out there and no one thought anyone would touch," said Tetrick on potentially reaching $300 million. "For people to already be talking about it, and the fact that maybe I have a chance to beat one of the G.O.A.T.'s records is pretty amazing."

Fotowon Tim Tetrick celebrates after win 12,000.

Tetrick won the Rising Star award from the United States Harness Writers in 2007 and has gone on to win the Driver of the Year Award from the same organization four times (2007, 2008, 2012, and 2013). He also owns the single-season record for most wins (1,189 in 2007), and each of the top three spots in most earnings in a year (2007, 2008, and 2012) and eight of the top 10 in that category.

An Illinois native, Tetrick, who lives in southern New Jersey and is driving exclusively at Dover Downs during the winter months, has averaged 2,800 starts per year over the last five years.

"I like my schedule right now," said Tetrick. "I get the weekends off during the winter. Dover is just an hour from my house. I don't go to Florida, but the weather is pretty good down here in south Jersey. I enjoy Dover. I'm done by 9:00 P.M. There is no pressure, they have quality horses, and it is fun for me.

"Everyone says ‘Why aren't you at The Meadowlands?' It is a two-hour drive for me, and from April through December 1, including qualifiers, I'm going almost six days-a-week. It's hard to do that all year."

As someone who has driven over 4,000 starts in a year twice, Tetrick admits that the schedule of a driver can be daunting.

"It is not easy. It is very stressful. The driving the horses part is easy, but it has always been hard for me to turn the page, and I wear it on my sleeve a lot," said Tetrick. "On the ride home I think about the drives a lot. Like if I would've pulled, or if I wouldn't have let Dex (Dunn) out on the final turn, I would've won the race. There is a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking with me."

With 12,000 wins now in his rearview mirror, Tetrick, who admits he has been very lucky to avoid major injuries, could potentially reach 20,000 wins or more for his career, but he's more focused on the here and now.

"I just want to make money, have fun, and look for my next Hambo winner," said Tetrick.