Bruce Nickells

Bruce Nickells (born July 5, 1928) is an American harness racing driver and trainer. Nickells was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame on July 4, 2016.^[1]

Biography

Nickells, who grew up in Princeton, Illinois,^[2] began working with harness racing horses as a groom when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, his first start as a harness racing driver, in 1949, when he was 21 years old, was driving a horse named Great Dune at Aurora Downs.^[3] Nickells worked two years as a second trainer for Del Cameron before opening his own stable in 1953.^[2]

Nickells became known as a specialist in training young

At the 1972 Little Brown Jug, Nickells drove Fast Clip to a second place finish, one and one fourth lengths behind the winner Strike Out. Strike Out, who had been trained by Nickells for two months the previous winter,^[7] won the Jug with a time of 1:56.3 which set a world record for a three-year-old pacer on a half mile track.^[8] He also won the 1989 Hambletonian Oaks with Park Avenue Kathy,^[9] and drove six horses to Breeders Crown championships.^[3]

In 1990, Nickells along with Gene Riegle, were awarded the Glen Garnsey Trophy as the U.S. Trainer of the Year.^[10] Although the NTRA did not track statistics early in Nickells' career, he earned at least $6 million in prize money as a driver and more than $7 million as a trainer.^[4]

Family

Nickells was a resident of Lighthouse Point, Florida during his racing career.^[9] Nickells was married for over 50 years to his wife Joanne, who died in 2007.^[11] They had two children, a son named Sep and a daughter named Brooke. Brooke Nickells, who is also a harness training trainer and driver, almost became the first woman to drive a horse in the Hambletonian Stakes in 2001. The owners of her horse, Lavecster, however, who Brooke had driven to five wins, chose to have Mike Lachance drive the horse instead.^[12] Bruce had a brother, Wayne, who also drove and trained harness horses. Wayne died in 2009.^[13]

References