Hennessey reflects on HOF

Wally Hennessey says when he received the phone call Thursday notifying him he had been elected to the Harness Racing Living Hall of Fame he had to ask for the words to be repeated. And then Hennessey—who turns 50 on Oct. 4—says he had a flashback of his entire life, beginning from his roots in Prince Edward Island to his current home in southern Florida.

“What it does, it brings you back to your childhood when you started. It’s unbelievable. I thought back to all those times with my dad, starting out young and mucking the stalls, first putting bandages on,” Hennessey told harnessracing.com. “The Hennessey family has been in this business for over a century. So this is pretty awesome; it’s quite a feeling.”

Hennessey, most associated with his drives behind two-time Horse of the Year Moni Maker, has won numerous major stakes over his career, including four Breeders Crowns, two Kentucky Futurities, the Woodrow Wilson Pace and the Merrie Annabelle Trot. Overall he has won more than 6,600 races and $44.7 million.

« Back