2000+ Wins For Shannon Suvaljko
Shannon Suvaljko on board Queen Shenandoah NZ. Photo Credit- Hamilton Content Creators
It was a big weekend for reinsman Shannon Suvaljko, celebrating his 2000th winning drive on Saturday night at Northam.
But after a quick email to Alan Parker (who is soon to be celebrated as a recent inductee into WA’s Hall Of Fame), it was soon established that Suvaljko hit the elusive 2000 wins some time ago, and Saturdays win on board the Kat Warwick trained Allinablaze was in fact Suvaljko’s 2057th driving win.
“I probably just wanted to win a race, and when I won my first, I wanted to win another.”
“And I always wanted to win a Pacing Cup.”
“Going to the trots with the old man, the Pacing Cup was unbelievable, big crowds, everyone having a different idea of who’s going to win, the race was on channel 7.”
And not only has Shannon made that dream a reality, the 53-year-old has now gone on to win it twice, firstly on board his own horse Vanlo Yorker NZ in 2008, and in more recent times, the 2020 Pacing Cup on the Phil Costello trained, million-dollar earner Vultan Tin.
“Winning that twice has been the best part of driving.”
Claiming his first win on board Afellas Daisy, Suvaljko went on to win 13 races from his first 30 drives and has since gone on to great heights, taking out 10 group 1 races as a driver and ranked fifth of all time in WA for total career wins.
With a career spanning almost 40 years, Suvaljko has no plans of slowing down, hoping to continue to go around and win races.
“I love winning for anyone, love Collie, Northam, Kellerberrin, it doesn’t matter, a win for the owners, trainer, their faces are the best medicine.”
It was a weekend of celebrating milestones, with Dylan Egerton-Green notching up his 800th career win in the cart at Gloucester Park, as well as Maddison Brown claiming her 200th career win.
**Once again, special mention to Alan Parker who has gone above and beyond with his information and knowledge of WA Harness.
Ashleigh Paikos