By Randy Whitehouse,Staff Writer

David Ingraham figured he had a thousand, maybe 1,500 wins in his crop when he began harness racing 25 years ago.

“I thought if I could ever reach 2,000, it’d be quite an achievement,” said the 43-year-old Knox native who started his career at Lewiston Raceway. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

Ingraham, who still spends his summers in Lewiston, picked up his 5,000th career victory Feb. 28 at Pompano Park in Florida, a remarkable feat in harness racing.

“I haven’t really checked it out, but someone tried telling me I was the 47th (driver) in the country (to reach 5,000 wins),” he said. “A lot of people are lucky to get 1,000 to 2,000 wins.”

Ingraham reached the milestone in the ninth race on Cobra Sabra, a 22-1 longshot that won by 1 1/2 lengths and paid $47.20 to win.

“The horse had a pretty rough gate. I was lucky to keep it together,” he said. “I just tried to let it do its thing and not push it too much and let it make its break.”

Ingraham made a break for harness racing as a young man. He used to help out an uncle who had what Ingraham called “a couple of cheap horses” stabled in Windsor. He also taking some vocational courses at Mt. View High School at the time and could have become an electrician with some more training, but when it came time to choose, he decided to try his luck in the sulky.

He stabled at Lewiston from 1980 until it closed in 1989. The highlight of his career came in 1995, when he drove Mattgrilla Gorilla to a win at Yonkers Raceway in the Cane Pace, which is one leg of harness racing’s triple crown.

Ingraham now spends roughly nine months out of the year in Florida with his wife Kelly, who is also an acclaimed driver and the sister of Lewiston native Walter Case, Jr. They have a son, Dustin, 17, who has begun racing and a daughter, Kelsie, 8.

Ingraham returns to Lewiston in the summer and races at Plainridge Racecourse in Massachusetts, Rockingham Park in New Hampshire and Scarboro Downs, as well as some local fairs. He estimated he competes in somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 races each year.

The days and weeks leading up to the milestone were a bit nerve-wracking, he admitted.

“Sometimes people get close to a milestone then go into a dry spell or cold spell,” he said. “Everybody knows you’re close to getting it and they keep close track.”

Family and friends joined Ingraham for a special presentation at Pompano Park two days after his achievement. Then it was back in the sulky in search of win No. 5,001.

“I love the competitiveness and the thrill of winning for people and the smiles you see on their faces after you’ve won for them,” he said. “It’s been a nice sport to me. I’ve traveled all up and down the East Coast and I’ve been very fortunate to make a good living at it.”