Northfield: Ronnie Wrenn Jr gets win No. 5,000

Ronnie Wrenn Jr. made his 5,000th trip to the winner’s circle after winning with Body Of Work in Northfield Park’s 3rd race on Wednesday (Feb. 6).

Body Of Work (2:00 1/5) won by a full length and was heavily favored, returning $2.60 to win. It was the 11th career score for the 6-year-old trotter, who now has $133,763 in earnings.

The 32-year-old Wrenn began driving in 2008. His 5,000 wins have helped him garner almost $31.5 million in purse earnings. Wrenn is consistently among the top drivers in the country. He won the 2013 and 2014 national dash driving titles, finished third in 2015 and 2016, fifth in 2017 and second in 2018.

Wrenn is a 2005 graduate of Hartland High School in Hartland, Mich. He played center field for and graduated from Mott Community College in Flint.

Although Wrenn comes from a racing family, he did not take an interest and become involved with horses at an early age.

“I was 19 or 20 when I jogged my first horse. I was always really busy with sports and stuff,” said Wrenn. “I didn’t really have time for it.”

However, after weighing his options and slowly becoming more interested with the family business, Ronnie decided on a career in racing.

“I was just sitting at the table working on stuff from school on my computer one night and looked up and told my dad I wanted to be a driver. He looked at me like I was crazy. But I was old enough that he really didn’t have a lot of say, and so far it has all worked out pretty well.”

Wrenn earned his first win behind Artful Power in a $1,400 Billings race at a Michigan fair.

“It was hard breaking in at first. I guess I got lucky to be put on some good horses and things just took off,” offered Wrenn. “My parents and grandparents really helped me a lot as well as countless other people.”

Wrenn’s fastest win ever came in the 2015 $225,000 Jim Ewart Memorial at Scioto Downs with Doo Wop Hanover in 1:49 2/5, and his richest being a $275,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Championship.

Wrenn rates the best horses he has ever driven as Arch Madness, Betterluvnexttime, Doo Wop Hanover, Luck Be Withyou, Night Pro, Southwind Amazon and Victory Is Coming.

Ronnie’s favorite horse to drive is Southwind Amazon, who was harness racing’s winningest horse last year, posting 22 victories in 38 starts.

Wrenn says his ultimate dream race to win would be the Little Brown Jug, “But I would take the feature races at Northfield too. I am a big fan of the Battle of Lake Erie and the Carl Milstein Memorial.”

“There are many owners and trainers that have given me opportunities and I will be forever grateful to them,” offered Wrenn. “To win races, a driver has to drive fast horses for talented trainers with good owners.”

Wrenn loves driving horses and would not trade jobs with anyone. When not driving, Ronnie enjoys golfing and working-out when he is not spending quality time with his wife Briana and their four month-old son Easton.

-edited release (Ayers Ratliff for Northfield)