Harness: Late-blooming All Or Nothing looking to make his mark in 2023

There's a nice story developing in Kentucky these last few weeks. It's about a horse on the way up and a driver who never has been down.

All Or Nothing, the logical favorite for Monday's (May 29) $150,000 Sire Stakes final for male pacers at Oak Grove, is a homebred that has a limited amount of starts in his racing career but as a 4-year-old may be about to start playing on the big stage. Then there is his driver Dave Palone, who up until a few weeks ago had never driven the son of Always B Miki, but now that he has, wants to be along for the ride wherever it takes him.

"I've been a friend of John Cummins for a long time," said Palone. "He asked me to drive All Or Nothing, and I've known about the horse for a long time and said yes."

The decision by Palone is something the 61-year-old veteran and sport's winningest driver rarely makes. Having been the dominant force at his hometown track of The Meadows for decades, Palone likes to stay close to home most of the time and race four days/nights a week. The regular dose of home cooking works well for Palone, who can still dominate younger drivers with regularity.

"It's nice to get out of western Pennsylvania every now and then," Palone joked. "I love coming through Nashville."

Palone's trip from the Pittsburgh area through Nashville put him in closer proximity to Oak Grove where he teamed with All Or Nothing for the first time on May 9, a second-by-a-nose finish in a $50,000 leg of the Kentucky Sire Stakes.

"I think I let him pace hard too early," said Palone, analyzing why he got beaten in that 1:49 2/5 mile after setting the pace.

This past Monday (May 22) the story was completely different for All Or Nothing as Palone was assertive to put him on the front-end and the rest was history. An impressive career-best 1:48 2/5 clocking was the result, but perhaps most impressive was a 26 3/5 final quarter that left one of last year's best sophomores I Did It Myway chasing in vain to the wire in second position.

"He was very relaxed out there," said Palone. "When I popped the earplugs, he took off."

Palone has sat behind some nice horses during his 40-year career in the sport. As of Wednesday (5/24), he had 20,386 career victories, a record that continues to grow with the driver showing no signs of slowing down, while at the same time eager to enjoy life away from his home track.

"It's exciting to get behind a horse like this," said Palone. "I think he can make the step up and race against the best ones. He's a big, gorgeous horse and I think what's best about him is that he's fresh."

In that statement, Palone was reflecting on the nine career starts by the 4-year-old, while at the same time complimenting his breeder and owner John Cummins for taking exceptional care of the horse and not racing him when the horse wasn't 100 percent. At a time during his brief 3-year-old season, All Or Nothing looked to have superstar potential, but his season was cut short after a setback last May following a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes victory.

All Or Nothing was short on experience but clearly knows what to do when on the racetrack, and this year has won two times in four starts while acclimating to the racing wars at Oak Grove and hopefully looking beyond. The horse is staked to the Graduate Series at Woodbine Mohawk Park and the Meadowlands, as well as the Sam McKee and William Haughton at the Meadowlands.

"I think he received an invitation to the Battle of Lake Erie [June 10] at Northfield," Palone said. "I'm not sure that John will want to race him that many weeks in-a-row."

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Another potential concern with All Or Nothing in the Battle at Northfield is his size and inexperience, having had all of his nine starts and qualifiers over a five-eighths-mile track.

It's hard to put a 1:48 2/5 mile in perspective other than saying it was very fast. The Oak Grove card on May 22 went extremely fast and though All Or Nothing's mile was the fastest by far, there were a few trotting miles by 4-year-olds (Jaqen H'ghar and Yanaba 1:51 4/5) that were individual career-bests as well.

Driver Scott Zeron, who qualified All Or Nothing this year and drove him last year, was equally impressed with the horse when we spoke earlier this year. "He may be the biggest horse I've ever sat behind," said Zeron. "He's got plenty of talent."

That said, Palone getting the call to drive All Or Nothing is unsurprising in an era where the elite catch-drivers have to choose between so many horses in the spring that could turn into big-money drives in the summer. A 4-year-old has limited earnings potential, and Zeron's departure paved the way for Palone, a detail not lost on the driver.

"Sure, I get to drive a lot of top horses when the other guys don't show up," Palone said with a laugh. "Still, Ake [Svanstedt] puts me down on a lot of nice horses when they ship to The Meadows."

Palone's services are more than welcome and that's because he continues to get results at an extremely high level. Though the number of annual drives is less than it was at career peak, Palone's success rate continues to be among the best in the sport.

A lot has changed over the years and like all top drivers Palone has had to adapt to remain competitive. Still, he laments over one of the biggest changes.

"It's almost impossible to win from the back any more," Palone said in describing the biggest changes from the outset of his driving career to the present. "It's all speed. It takes a pretty dominant type of horse to come off-the-pace and win these days.

"That's why I love racing at The Red Mile. Horses can still come from off-the-pace there."

Palone has driven some of the greats of the sport and fondly remembers a few of those marquee horses.

"I think I was like 28 when I drove Artsplace," said Palone of the champion developed by Gene Riegle. "Sweet Lou's Breeders Crown win as a 2-year-old was something special. It was a cold, windy night and he set a record that I think stood for 10 years."

The 1:49 mile at Woodbine in 2011 was an epic performance.

With six wins in nine starts, All Or Nothing's racing career is just getting underway. Having the skilled hands of Dave Palone to guide him no doubt gives him a solid chance to achieve greatness.