At age 25 Luke Hanners has already won a thousand races and found rides with some of the best horses on the circuit. And spurred on by a family legacy and an older brother on the same upward trajectory, his future is unlimited.
Lebanon, OH – At the three-quarter pole in the third race at Miami Valley Gaming this week, Luke Hanners was cruising in first place, a full horse ahead of his older brother Austin, sitting in second.
The lead lasted for as long as it took to get to the head of the home stretch.
At that point Austin Hanners poured on the coal with Legacy Affair and cruised to a three-length victory with the ultimate family snub.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA, Ohio State sports, and OHHA racing for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Except, the junior Hanners took it as no snub when he was asked, “How many times has that happened in your still-young career?”
“It’s happened,” he smiled. “But I try to not let it happen too often. I try to do it to him. I want to beat everybody out there, so yeah, there’s a rivalry, but I like to see everyone do good.”
And such it is with one of the more successful brother acts in contemporary Standardbred racing, spurred by a family legacy fueled by father Brad Hanners, who won 4,900 races as a driver and trainer before passing away in 2015 at 43 years of age. In addition, Hanners’ mother, Alicia, is very much involved with the family business, as a trainer.
At age 25, his accomplishments are eye-opening.
He owns 10,273 starts, including his first career win at the Champaign County Fair in 2017 with a horse named Save Me A Place.
He has 1,204 career wins already, with win 1,000 coming last October 4th with a horse named Travel Nurse.
His career earnings are an eye-popping $14,099, 546 dollars, including $1,905,000 in 2026.
All this, since starting to drive in 2017.
“I got involved with it, probably when I was three years old. Since I was little driving is all I’ve ever wanted to do.” – Luke Hanners
“I got involved with it, probably when I was 3 years old,” he said this week at Miami Valley Gaming. “I used to sit on my dad’s lap while he was driving a jog cart. Since I was little driving is all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
Few so young have been so successful in a sport that requires constant travel and inward hustle. You get noticed you have to make the circuit. To get rides you have to be persistent, confident. To get better rides you have to win. And to win big, you have to capture the imagination of both owners and the racing public. Hanners has done it all in a matter of just eight years.
And, he’s had the constant support and push from his equally-successful older brother (by two years), Austin, who last fall captured the half million dollar Breeders Crown Pace in Canada, driving Always B Naughty to a record-setting 1:48.1 to capture his first Breeders Crown victory.
“I’m proud of him,” Hanners smiles as he talks about his older brother. “I was happy for him to win in Canada. That’s a big achievement that not many people get to do. Not many people even get to be in the race.”
The older Hanners, Austin, won a Breeders’ Crown race in Canada in 2025, along with $4.3 million in purses.
They admit to it being a mutual admiration between the two of them.
“We have different styles of driving,” says Luke. “I think we probably take a little from each other. I think we each might give the other some input and just let it go from there.”
“Luke has a lot of good energy,” says Austin. “He does a good job of keeping a horse alive. Horses feed off that. And he’s more aggressive than me. I definitely try to take some of that from him.”
And one of the toughest jobs as a driver is to try to win with ten different horses on a given day…to have the kind of energy and instinct to make all those different horses as competitive as they can be. Luke Hanners has it.
“I think you can look at 90% of the horses here and just know their equipment and their competitive makeup,” he adds. ” Then it’s just a matter of positioning them in the right spot, and you learn the other horses’ weaknesses. So studying the program is definitely important.”
Born in Harrington, Delaware, he grew up in Ohio, then moved back East to begin his driving career before moving back to Ohio. Scioto Downs is now his favorite track.
“Probably because it’s close to home,” he smiles when asked. “I’m living close to there now, and close to Virgil’s (Morgan) training center. “And I like the atmosphere there. It’s a great atmosphere, beautiful under the lights…it’s a great facility.”
At 25 he’s already driven some of the best.
“Adamsville Road is probably my favorite trotter,” he says without hesitation. “And on the pacer side Carbine had a good run there, and She’safirewoman had a great two-year-old year last year, hoping to have a good three-year-old year this year. There’s been a lot of them.”
And of course, if he’s ever in need of motivation older brother Austin is just two years removed, never far away, physically, and won $4.3 million in purses in 2025.
And as a brothers’ act, who can you name that’s better in any sport? Or with a bigger future?
The Dave Arbogast family of dealerships, in Troy, Ohio, proudly sponsors OHHA harness racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.