9,000 wins for Kevin Wallis

April 17, 2010

It was a humble, relieved and thankful sounding Kevin Wallis that returned to the winner's circle at the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park on Saturday night after achieving his entry into the harness sport's elite 9,000-win club for drivers.

"It's been on my mind non-stop over the past few days and yes I did want to get it out of the way as quickly as possible," the 53-year-old driver said in his live trackside TV interview after winning the second and third races. "There were a lot of people that helped me along the way and it's quite a humbling thing to hear that only 12 other drivers in history have reached 9,000 wins."

It was a fitting twist of fate that a trotting mare with Canadian connections from near his birthplace carried Wallis to the milestone victory. Trot Your Sox Off, a 6-year-old daughter of Wesgate Crown-Little Angel came right back to win in front-end style in 1:57.3 to follow up her life's mark 1:57 win last week. The mare is trained by Dr. Joan (Jiggs) Gough for Falconbrydge Farms of Mount Brydges, Ont.

"This mare has really come into her own, I know she had a big win streak early in her career at Western Fair in the City Of London Series and in the Grassroots division of the Ontario Sires Stakes," Wallis said. "I'm originally from Granton, a village just north of London, Omt. so it was a nice touch that a horse that got her foundation there got me this milestone win. My wife Linda and I do train a lot that I drive but I wouldn't have this milestone without the help of all the people that have given me catch-drives over the years too."

Wallis has a streak of $1 million-plus driving campaigns in progress dating to 1993 and on three occasions his annual purse haul has topped $2.8 million. He paid tribute to some of the horses that have been most memorable in his career.

"Merrywood Tyrone was my first good horse back at Windsor over 20 years ago," Wallis recalled. "He was a horse that we converted to being free-legged to get him over his habit of kicking and he became an Open class winner. Zorgwijk Emani was a 3-year-old trotting filly that held the Pompano track record for a while and did us a lot of good in the Ontario Sires Stakes. Burning Point was the best horse overall for my career, she gave us so many thrills in the Ontario Sires Stakes, the Breeders Crown and many other stakes races."

Wallis is a 21-year veteran of the "snowbird" horseman's life racing seasonally at The Winter Capital Of Harness Racing from a home base at Lighthouse Point, Fla. The Florida chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association inducted Wallis into the Florida Hall of Fame earlier this decade. In the summer months from a home base at Maidstone, Ont. near Windsor he campaigns at Hazel Park and throughout Ontario. He says this year he'll be shipping north on May 11.

Accomplishing the 9,000-win milestone (for career driving purses of over $41 million) also gave Wallis occasion to pause and give credit to some of the horseman most impactful on his career.

"My colors are yellow and blue and that's because (Hall Of Famer) Keith Waples is an idol of mine, as he was for many in my generation," Wallis said. "I learned a lot when I was starting out from Ron Feagan too. It's a relief to get this one of the way. Now I can start working on getting to 10,000." (Pompano)

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