Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino closed the curtain on the 30th season of live harness racing on Saturday, Dec. 9 in front of a packed house. In addition to an action packed 12-race card, the leading driver and leading trainer honours were awarded. Trace Tetrick (pictured above) took home his 10th consecutive leading driver title and Tyler George took home his fourth consecutive leading trainer trophy.
Tetrick, Harrah’s Hoosier Park’s all-time leading driver, picked up right where he left off last season following a record-breaking season in 2022. Tetrick recorded 368 seasonal wins in his 1,707 starts. John DeLong took home the silver title with 265 wins from 1,654 starts while Kyle Wilfong took third with 152 wins from 1,361 starts.
Taking home his 10th consecutive leading driver title and 12th overall, Tetrick currently resides in fifth place for top U.S drivers with his 528 this season. Since 2008, the Illinois native has continually earned more than $2 million a season, contributing to lifetime earnings of more than $81.9 million.
“To be competitive on a nightly basis, that’s my main goal,” noted Tetrick in the winner’s circle. “I hold myself to a standard where it doesn’t matter what I did yesterday or the race before, I approach each race individually and with a clean slate.
“I am thankful for everyone that supports me and puts me up to drive every night so I can stand here and accept this trophy.”
After winning his first Harrah’s Hoosier Park leading trainer title in 2020, Tyler George hasn’t relinquished the training title since, picking up his fourth consecutive title in 2023. George smashed the all-time single season wins record for a trainer in 2022 with 126 wins breaking the previous record of 119 shared by George’s 2021 season and Jeff Cullipher’s 2018 season, which originated the record. He ended the 2023 season with 108 victories and $1,604,547 in purse earnings at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. For the year, George’s stable is having the best year to date with more than $2.4 million in purse earnings.
While George has been training since 2004, he began consistently bringing in more than $1 million in yearly earnings in 2016 and has gone over that plateau every year since. The Ohio native is no stranger to Indiana Sires Stakes success, training horses like Rollin Rosie and Tells On A Roll to Indiana Sires Stakes victories this season. George recorded his 1,000th training victory in 2020 and is well on his way to win number 2,000 with 1,575 victories and counting. For his training career, George has trained the winners of more than $15.7 million in purse earnings.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” noted George. “We have a great team. It really is a team effort and we are fortunate to have some great horses.
“We didn’t really have our eye on winning the title again this year,” he continued. “But, we kept getting closer and closer and the horses kept racing good all season. We had a good year and are already looking forward to next year.”
The Saturday night program wrapped up a successful season at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino would like to thank all of the fans, bettors and horsepeople who helped make the 2023 season an overwhelming success.
(Hoosier Park)