Lauren Tritton is looking for the luck of the Irish
by Debbie Little
Driver Lauren Tritton will be absent from The Meadowlands this weekend because she’ll be competing across the pond for the second straight year in the Bernie Kelly International Ladies Race.
As the feature race on the first night of Vincent Delaney Memorial (VDM) Racing Weekend (Aug. 8-9), the competition will take place this year at Tir Prince in Wales, the only all-weather half-mile floodlit track in the UK or Ireland.
Derek and James Delaney, founders of Oakwood Stud in Ireland, created the VDM in 2012 in honor of their baby brother Vincent, who at 27, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2011.
Tritton competed in last year’s inaugural Bernie Kelly race, which pays tribute to a woman who was so much more than just a staunch supporter of VDM Weekend.
Although Tritton said she never had the good fortune to meet Kelly, who passed from cancer in 2019, she learned a lot about her.
“We got pretty caught up with the whole Bernie Kelly story before we headed over last year,” Tritton said. “So, all of us women kind of knew what we were all over there for.
“She seemed pretty strong, hands on, and involved in harness racing over there, so, it was quite sad, actually.”
Tritton currently resides in the U.S., but she will be representing her native Australia in the field of eight. The 2024 Harness Racing Museum Amateur Driving Champion Lauren Harmon is representing the U.S. alongside Jess Dyer (United Kingdom), Laura Frendo (Malta), Catherine Lord (United Kingdom), Leah McNevin (Ireland), Kelly Peacock (United Kingdom), and Mila Salminen (Finland).
Tritton will be accompanied on this trip again by her husband, trainer Shane Tritton.
The Trittons returned home from their last VDM excursion with a little bit more than new memories and friends.
“The last time we went there, we came out of it with the fastest [pinto] horse [Always B Colour IR] in history, and Rhyds Superfly GB, who won his first seven starts,” Shane said. “So, I can’t be too picky. You know, it wasn’t a bad investment, put it that way. We’ll see if we can keep that average up.”
Always B Colour IR is a pinto, or skewbald, as they are known in Australia.
“[Always B Colour IR] raced at the VDM last year when we were there, and we were just walking past him [in the barn], and he stuck his head out of a stall,” Shane said. “And she goes, ‘Oh my God, look at that horse.’ And we walked over there. She goes, ‘I have to have this horse.’ I’m like, ‘They’re not going to give you this horse. Have a look at him.’ And she’s like, ‘I have to have this horse.’”
Lauren added with a laugh, “I said, ‘I’m not leaving without that horse.’”
Then Shane said, “Lo and behold, six months later, it’s in my barn.”
Last year the Trittons did not necessarily come to the VDM with a horse-acquiring gameplan, not so for this year.
“We actually have an interesting concept this year,” Lauren said. “So, a good friend and long-time client of ours, Josh Graber, we actually convinced him to buy two yearlings [Ayrodrome and Dazzling Lou] at the yearling sale last year in Ireland, to be trained by Patrick Kane…
“Honestly, after last year, we said we were going to buy two yearlings to race in the VDM next year, because we had so much fun. We did do that, and fortunately enough, we will be doing that. But I also got the call out from Derek again this year, and I’m really fortunate enough to be able to do it again, but it’s going to be quite different this year, I think, especially with Shane and I being the trainer and driver of the famous, [pinto] horse. So, I feel like that’s going to be a really cool experience this year.”
In the VDM power rankings, the 2-year-old pacing filly Ayrodrome, by Sweet Lou—Talk Time, leads the way in her division, while the 2-year-old pacing colt Dazzling Lou, by Sweet Lou—Dazzler, sits in third.
“Having two, one each, a colt and a filly in the heats, is just going to be a great experience, and to get to drive again, it’s going to be really good,” Lauren said.
Tonight (Aug. 8), the Vincent Delaney Memorial horses will compete in qualifying heats to advance to the finals on Saturday night (Aug. 9).
“One thing you’ll take away, I guarantee you, when you come back from the VDM, is, if you sit there and just watch the races and it doesn’t matter who wins, and it won’t be the VDM, it’ll be some normal race on the card that’s worth about $700 and I’m telling you, there’ll be 50 people in the winner’s circle screaming and crying,” Shane said. “They’ll be crying, they’ll be jumping up and down, and you’d swear they’d just won the Breeders Crown. That’s every race, and it won’t matter who wins. One thing we took away from it, was that everybody on this race course, none of them are here for the money. They’re all here for the glory and the fun.”
Lauren added, “It was such a good experience for me. Out of all the races that I’ve ever won in my career, that was probably the coolest winner’s circle.”
Then Shane said, “Because they were so excited. And it had nothing to do with money. It had nothing to do with personal interest. It was pure joy of the horse, which was great, you know, you don’t see a lot of that. It’s good when you see that, because people are actually just happy for the horse. It’s hard to remember that that’s what it used to be all about.”
