What does history show us could be next for 2025 Rising Star Braxten Boyd?

by Bob Heyden

The history of the Rising Star Award is a glorious one, and a definite indicator of great things yet to come, and Braxten Boyd is just 25.

Here’s a look at a standout moment or two for drivers between the ages of 26 and 49 from years past.

TIM TETRICK

In 2007, Tim Tetrick set the new, and unheard of, earnings record of over $19.8 million. He turned 26 on Nov. 22, 2007 and that money mark still stands, as does his victory total set at 27, the very next season, of 1,189. In 2011 Tetrick turned 30 and surpassed $100 million in career earnings, the youngest to ever catapult past that milestone.

JOHN CAMPBELL

Can Boyd do what John Campbell did in 1982 at age 27 when he captured his very first million-dollar race at that age with Hilarion taking the Meadowland Pace? Campbell was just 31 on Million Dollar Babies Night in July 1986, and with over $5 million up for grabs, he surged past Herve Filion on the all-time $$ list at $59 million plus and has never looked back, ending his magnificent career in 2017 at $299.8 million. Campbell was just 33  when he won back-to-back Hambletonians (1987-88) which has not been done consecutively since. At 40, Campbell came up with a special four-pack, winning the Jug, Pace, NA Cup, and Hambletonian.

BILLY HAUGHTON

Billy Haughton was just 29 in 1952 when he began a streak of a record eight-straight $$ titles. Haughton’s lone Triple Crown winner, Rum Customer, came in 1968 when he was 45. It was also his Hall of Fame induction year.

STANLEY DANCER

Stanley Dancer was just 32 when a relatively obscure trotting gelding, Su Mac Lad, joined his barn. He then raced in a record seven-straight Roosevelt Internationals and was the first of Dancer’s record seven Horses of the Year. At 41 in 1968, Dancer dominated the trotting world with Nevele Pride, who was in the midst of three-straight HOY titles, not equaled to this day by any trotter.

SCOTT ZERON

Scott Zeron had three Hambletonian wins by the time he was 33. In this unprecedented feat, none were favored.

HERVE FILION

At 35, Herve Filion was the youngest, driver or otherwise, to enter the Hall of Fame. At 48, in 1988, Filion’s 798 victories established a new all-time single-season best.

BILLY O’DONNELL

Billy O’Donnell, the 2025 Bergstein – Proximity Award winner, was 37 in 1985 when he drove the first sub 1:50 race winner Nihilator (1:49.3), who later doubled as the very first  $3 million career earner.

MIKE LACHANCE

Mike Lachance turned 38 in 1988 when he campaigned Matt’s Scooter to a record-setting season with a 1:48.2 TT record, the year before he was selected HOY. Lachance turned 46 in 1996 when Continentalvictory dominated en route to a HOY season which was highlighted by a two heat 3:45 Hambletonian Day for the ages. This came the same year Lachance was enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Lachance turned 49 in 1999 when he rewrote the Hambletonian record with a stirring 1:51.3 effort from Self Possessed.

DAVID MILLER

David Miller was about to turn 39 in 2003 when No Pan Intended won the Breeders Crown. Little did we all know that history was made right there. No other Triple Crown winner has also won a Breeders Crown.

JASON BARTLETT

Jason Bartlett, the 2025 Driver of the Year, evokes memories of Stanley Dancer’s .505 UDRS at age 42. Bartlett, 44, leads North America in earnings with $16,508,408 and has the top UDRS of .455 among the top 50 money earning drivers.

In regards to Boyd, this is a lot to take in; a history book filled with highlighted pages. But after watching him handle Madden Oaks in the Meadowlands Pace and North America Cup this year, who would be shocked a quarter century or less from now to see his name among the most outstanding one year?