Well-traveled Braxten Boyd reaps Rising Star honors
by Debbie Little
Braxten Boyd did the most traveling of his young career during 2025 and it paid off with plenty of trips to the winner’s circle and a Rising Star Award.
Boyd, 25, remembers getting the call from U.S. Harness Writers Association (USHWA) president Michael Carter to inform him that he was chosen for the acclaimed accolade, which will be presented at the Dan Patch Awards banquet on Feb. 22.
“It was just an exhilarating feeling; it’s definitely an honor,” Boyd said. “A lot of prestigious people in our business have won that award. Being a young person and being in our business and being there in Florida on that night, with all those prestigious people getting awards, it’ll be an honor just to be a part of it.”
Logging a lot of driving miles in his car, as well as on the track, is nothing new to Boyd, who competes on the New York Sire Stakes circuit, but calls Pennsylvania home.
“In New York, it’s a great circuit, and we’re very blessed as drivers to get asked to drive on the circuit and get to drive horses in those races that go for great money,” Boyd said. “It’s a great place to make some money and have a little fun, but those places are all very far drives.”
Boyd, a native of Michigan, currently lives a half-hour away from Pocono Downs and 2½ hours from The Meadowlands.
“I race 180 days a year at Pocono, so it helps just because it’s a 30-minute drive to start your day, whether you’ve got to go somewhere else or not at night,” Boyd said. “And then, usually, I’m working about 60 days a year at Tioga Downs, and Tioga is an hour and 15 minutes.
“I work a ton of days at The Meadowlands, too, but those are usually only two days a week, and like in the summer, when I’m really working the bulk of my days, four at Pocono and three at Tioga, those drives make it a lot easier when you’re working seven days a week and racing two tracks four days out of the week.”
Boyd has shown himself to be an uber-consistent driver, as he notched 337 wins in both 2024 and 2025.
But his association with trainer Cameron Capone, 26, and a colt named Madden Oaks, helped take Boyd’s career to the next level.
Boyd drove the 3-year-old pacing son of Huntsville—Hard Eight in 12 of the colt’s 18 starts in 2025, including a victory in the Grade 1 Meadowlands Pace and a second-place finish in the Grade 1 North America Cup.
Madden Oaks was given little respect in the NA Cup final, having been sent off at 53-1 from post 10, but Boyd believed they could get the job done.
Boyd wore a helmet cam in the race that captured his emotions from the time he left the paddock through the exciting duel down the stretch with Louprint, where Madden Oaks came up a head shy.
“More or less in the last turn, I thought [we could win],” Boyd said. “Once I got room [in the stretch], it was kind of a blur, but up until then, before I got room, I thought I was going to win.
“My poor horse was the second fastest horse ever in that race, and was second.”
A month later, Boyd again found himself leaving from the outermost post, 9, at odds of 6-1 in the Meadowlands Pace.
Although Boyd and Madden Oaks crossed the line second in the Pace, a length behind Prince Hal Hanover, after a lengthy judges’ inquiry, it was determined that Prince Hal Hanover had interfered with Madden Oaks nearing the finish line.
“In my heart of hearts, as it happened, I knew I won, but it’s a decision that you have no part of making,” Boyd said. “It definitely was a little different.”
A week later, Boyd piloted Binge On Yankee from the rail to victory in the $250,000 Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace at Saratoga at odds of 43-1 for trainer Todd Luther and owner Greg Luther Racing.
“That’s the only time I drove for those connections and that horse,” Boyd said. “Scotty Zeron’s a very busy person, and he was the one that was listed on the horse, and I think he kind of just threw my name out there at the connections because I was going to be there for New York Sire Stakes races.”
With many Grand Circuit drivers, including Zeron, at The Meadowlands for divisions of the Tompkins-Geers, recommending Boyd to drive Binge On Yankee was easy for Zeron to do.
“I personally think Braxten is just a good person, and he’s also an extremely talented driver,” Zeron said. “He called me and asked me what I would do driving [Binge On Yankee], and he did a hell of a job. And obviously the race worked out in his favor.”
Although currently 35, with three Hambletonian victories under his belt, Zeron said he remembers what it was like to be that young, up-and-coming driver.
“Being young is extremely difficult in this business, because people want age and experience and not youth and eagerness,” Zeron said. “So, you’re always in a constant battle of trying to prove yourself. And any opportunity you’re given is usually because a lot of the guys can’t participate in that race, and that’s your one chance to shine. So, it’s a very high-pressure situation for any young driver, because they don’t get those opportunities very often. And if they could just capitalize on them, it could propel their career to new heights.
“And obviously, Braxten hooked up with a really good horse [Madden Oaks] and it just made his whole year great, having that talented horse, and then spiraling into winning the Gerrity, that’s what you need.
“To me, Braxten feels like one of the more veteran young guys, so I really trust him as a driver. And like I said, he’s a great person. He deserved that opportunity.”
As with all things, Zeron said timing is everything, and Boyd made the most of what he was given.
“His placing in the Pace was before [the Gerrity], which brought him the global eyes, and the Luthers, obviously, may not have known much about him, and then they see him win on the Grand Circuit, and that makes him an easy sell as well,” Zeron said. “It might be a referral by me, but if they’ve never heard of Braxten Boyd, they might not go that direction. So, he earned it and… he was not favored by any means in that race, so it wasn’t a layup win. It was a great race and just a great outcome.
“I think Braxten makes very good decisions out there. I believe that drivers who can make horses go fast are a dime a dozen, but if you can weigh on the side of trying to make the best decision at that time, more often than not, you’ll end up winning more races, and people will trust you… If you aren’t making calculated decisions more often than not, then it just won’t end up working out, and I feel like he’s a pretty good decision-maker on the track.”
Although Zeron was too busy driving at The Meadowlands to watch the Gerrity as it happened, he was able to experience the victory on TikTok through Boyd’s helmet cam.
“So, when I watched his helmet cam of that horse it was super exciting to watch,” Zeron said. “Because as a driver, he’s loaded in the last turn, and then you’ve got to time the passing lane really accurately. He times it, and his horse just zips on by. And, like I said, he didn’t have the best horse in that race and he won that race.”
Boyd said his favorite race/memory of the year wasn’t a win.
“Without a doubt, which is weird, even though I didn’t get to touch the trophy, the North America Cup,” Boyd said. “The show they put on up there at Mohawk, it just was so professional, and the crowd was just absolutely packed to the gills. I’ve never seen anything like it, other than when I was younger. Since COVID, at a horse race, I haven’t seen anything like it.
“And then kind of having the expectations that I had a chance, and getting the 10-hole, and kind of just going into it with a whatever happens mindset, and then it coming out the way it did, the way it played out. It was just something I’ll never forget.”
Boyd said he thanks all of his family, especially his fiancée, Brandy Wine, and all of the trainers that supported him in his career year.
“I just couldn’t thank them enough for the opportunities, and, hopefully, I can keep doing the best I can for them,” he said. “It’s really hard for me to single anybody out, because I drive for so many people.”
To illustrate Boyd’s point, in 2025 he competed in 31 races worth $100,000 or more for 17 different trainers, driving 22 different horses.
When Boyd started driving on a full-time basis in 2021, he said he could not have seen a year like 2025 playing out for him as soon or as well as it did.
“As a kid, just dreaming of doing this as a job, you just hoped that you could make a good, solid living doing it and just be able to enjoy it, and race horses doing what you love,” Boyd said. “It’s been a whirlwind of a couple of years, and I couldn’t be more blessed and thankful for it. It’s definitely had its highs and definitely had its lows, but it’s been a business that I’m very grateful to be a part of.
“I’ve gotten to drive for some people at The Meadowlands, I would think I wouldn’t have ever gotten to drive for when I was first starting out in the business, and I’ve tried to make the most of those opportunities. And, for the most part, I feel like I’ve held my own with those chances, and hopefully more of them are to come. Hopefully, people have seen what I’ve done in the races that had major money on the line last year, and maybe it can just catapult into more chances, and, hopefully, I can do well with those ones.”
