“We’ve got the real McCoy in Wim,” said Eric Warner the
tracks director of racing referring to Paal be German. “It’s not often
that we get a chance to get a foreign driver for any of our Heritage Drivers
Series races.”
Born in Goch, Germany , Paal says his home track
is in Gelsonkirchen, a city of over 270,000 in North Rhine
-Westphalia but for the past 25 years he’s been living in and
successfully racing in Italy where he has been prolific with trotters.
“Of course I’ve raced throughout Germany and raced for
many years in France,” Paal said via a telephone conversation. “And I’ve
raced horses here in America in the past, also.”
“He (Paal) raced a colt by the name of Broadway
Marquis in the Breeders Crown a few years back and he’s hoping to have another
colt that could compete again this season,” Warner added. “He’s here in the
states driving trotters for Henrik Lundell and Kim Jeannont
and recently made an appearance at the Mighty M driving in a New York Sires
Stakes trot.”
It’s a known fact that all Standardbred racing in Europe is
for only trotters .
Did you ever drive a pacer?” Warner asked Paal.
”Never.”
“Well you will on July 30 in our Munich Mile because it’ll
be a race for pacers.”
“Great , I’m looking forward to it,” Paal said.
Paal has raced sparingly in the U.S. during the
2007 and 2008 campaigns and has 12 winners to his credit, three of which came
this season in just 13 starts.
A true and accomplished horseman Paal will face some
seasoned American veterans in the Munich Mile in Greg Merton , Jimmy
Marohn and Mike Merton, all of whom have some German blood in their ancestry.
“I’ll be looking forward to meeting those gentlemen when I
go back to Monticello,” Paal said, “ I’m anxious to drive a pacer in a
race. I’ve trained them before but on Monday I’ll get a chance to drive one in
a race.”
