by Bob Heyden

With Tim Tetrick’s Hall of Fame call just around the corner, it seemed appropriate to revisit his incredible 2012 season.

That year, Tetrick drove the winners of seven year-end titles. No one before, or since, has ever had more than four in any single season. He also swept the Horse of the Year, Pacer of the Year and Trotter of the Year awards that year, meaning horses he drove won 10 Dan Patch Awards in all.
Tetrick’s champions that year were:

3YOFP — American Jewel; Older Mare Pace — Anndrovette; 3YOCP — Heston Blue Chip; 3YOFT — Check Me Out; 3YOCT — Market Share; 2YOCP — Captaintreacherous; Older Male Trotter — Chapter Seven; Pacer of the Year — Captaintreacherous; Trotter of the Year — Chapter Seven; Horse of the Year — Chapter Seven.

Tetrick drove all three of the top vote-getters for the Horse of the Year in 2012 — Chapter Seven 84 votes; Market Share (41) and Captaintreacherous (6).

Tetrick set another all-time record as the regular driver on four millionaires in a single season:

Heston Blue Chip — $1,030,008 18 14-1-1
American Jewel — $1,163,449 16 9-4-2
Chapter Seven — $1,023,025 10-8-2-0
Market Share — $2,001 million 20 10-5-3

The combined record for these four millionaire performers of 2012 was:
64 41-10-6 $5,217,887.

Tetrick’s sixth straight money title came in 2012, thanks to a $18,529,676 season. This came on the heels of:

2007 — $18,350,047
2008 — $19,752,066
2009 — $16,269,672
2010 — $16,485,409
2011 — $15,850,537

Note: at age 31, this was Tetrick’s sixth driving title. He’d make it seven in a row in 2013. By that same age, John Campbell had 4 national money titles (1979, 1980, 1983, 1986) and Billy Haughton had three (1952, 1953, 1954).

Prior to 2007 when Tim made his move to the Meadowlands/Grand Circuit full time, he was 259th on the all-time win list with 2,550 and 119th on the earnings list with $19,414,878.

The gap in 2012 back to the second leading driver in earnings was $4,785,631. Tetrick led with $18,529,676 and Yannick Gingras was second with $13,744,045. That gap was the second biggest from first to second in standardbred history. Tim also owns the largest margin. In 2007, he drove the winners of $18,350,047. Ron Pierce was second with $13,367,824. The margin was $4,982,223.

Tetrick is closing fast on Pierce for the #3 spot all-time on the earnings list. Tetrick might surpass Pierce in 2019 on Breeders Crown night. In 2018, Tetrick joined the $200 million club on Breeders Crown night.