Harness Racing Insider

March 27, 2008

Driver Brent Holland has called the Windy City racing circuit home since 1991. The 36-year-old Wilmington, Ohio native scored his best season ever in 2007, amassing $2,764,882 in earnings from 2,246 starters who recorded 378 wins, 322 seconds and 253 thirds.

And Holland isn’t slowing down either. To date in 2008, he’s had 464 starts, with a 66-66-54 record and $338,476 in purse earnings. He currently sits second ($160,381) in the Maywood Park driver standings and sixth at Balmoral ($178,095). Lifetime, he’s racked up 3,344 victories and $25,384,560 from the winner’s he driven.

Holland grew up in central Ohio, next to neighbors who owned and trained Standardbreds.

“The Hagemeyers were our next door neighbors and friends,” Holland recalled. “I used to go over there on Saturdays as a kid and help them with their horses.”

Holland is the only member of his family with interests in the equines. His father is a farmer, his mother a housewife, and his older brother Trent, 37, helps with the family’s 50-acre farm.

Holland went to work for Buckeye horseman Bill Daley during his high school years, and received his matinee license in 1987. He graduated to Provisional driver status in 1989 and in 1990 was granted an “A” license during the Scioto Downs spring meeting.

“I’m allergic to horses and leather,” Holland said. “So it’s important for me to stay covered up and not touch a horse’s skin too much. I don’t give horses baths if I can help it now. I mainly stick to jogging, training and driving.”

Holland won his first big stakes, piloting the pacer Dancer’s Ideal for trainer Bobby Grimsely in 1990, to victories in the Orange & Blue and the Cardinal that year. After some thought, the young driver decided to give his talents a try at the Chicago venues. He was just 20.

“I wanted to get out of Ohio,” Holland said. “Driving in Chicago appealed to me more than racing at Lebanon. The problem was, I didn’t know that many people in Chicago. A friend told me that Bob Farrington was looking for help at his farm that was southwest of Maywood. So I called Bob and he said I could come up and go to work for him.”

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship with many Windy City trainers, drivers and owners. He’s been a mainstay in Chicago every since.

“I hope to continue to be successful here as a catch driver,” Holland noted. “The right trainer can really help a driver–that’s what really got me started here–when Bob put me down on his stock, because he had them classified properly.

“I enjoy driving horses in Chicago, because they have a better class of horses than a lot of places, and we’ve got a lot more of them,” Holland offered. “The majority of horsemen, the drivers in particular, keep their business on the racetrack. You can be friends after you get off the bike and leave the track and that’s important. Often times back at Lebanon you had to be ready for a fight once you stepped out of the sulky. The drivers here are very professional–they leave their races on the track.”

Holland said he was inspired to drive by Herb Coven, Jr. and by Hall of Famer and Meadowlands superstar John Campbell.

“When I was little I used to watch Herb all the time from the sidelines,” Holland said. “I learned a lot from him by just watching him and how he handled a horse. Then I started watching John Campbell on the television from The Meadowlands. What struck me about John is that he seldom used the whip.

“That tells you a lot about a driver,” Holland added. “Most of these horses give you all they got, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Friday, March 21, 2008

Driver Pat Berry scored his 2,000 career victory this past week at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.

The 32-year-old Illinois native, who began his driving career in 1994, enjoyed a career best season in 2007 with 508 wins and earnings of $4,701,648.

The mild-mannered and affable horseman has always been a favorite of this writer, for his easy-going demeanor and subtle nature. He’s easy to spot in the driver’s room, as besides his bright blue and orange colors, he’s usually got a big grin on his face.

A graduate of Harvard High School, Pat took some college courses but says he “just wanted to work with horses.” That desire sprang from Pat’s genetics—his grandfather is Illinois horseman Clarence Jacobs, father of his uncle Randy Jacobs who has been a successful Illinois reinsman for three decades.

Pat’s driving career began in 1995 when he steered the pacer Evere to a 2:00.1 victory at Balmoral Park as a “P” driver. During the next few years Pat averaged 150 drivers per season in Chicago and decided he needed a change. He ventured to Dover Downs in 1999, 2000 and 2001—the first years he exceeded $100,000 in purses from his catch-drives. A few years later, he went East permanently.

In 2002 Pat drove 66 winners to $499,575, and the following season amassed $1.6 million with 236 trips to the winner’s circle. In 2004 his charges earned $2.6 million from 339 winners, and in 2005 he steered 325 winners to the tune of $3.1 million. 2006 saw him pilot 303 winners to $2.1 million in purses.

His career totals as of today find him with 2,004 wins and $16,368,037 million in earnings.

“I study the program every night before my drives to see who I’m in against but I really listen to the trainer,” Pat said. “I’ll drive the horse the way that trainer wants the horse driven because he works with the horse all week long and has to take him home once I hand the lines back to him. I think it’s important to take care of people’s horses they way they’d like them to be handled in a race.”

Currently, Pat ranks sixth in North America with 118 winners and $770,836 from Jan. 1 through March 21, 2008.

“In Chicago, the drivers are very aggressive,” Pat noted. “In Chicago our horses are used to being parked and endure more rough miles on a consistent basis.”

Pat says he admires top drivers such as Mike Wilder, Dick Stillings, Dave Palone, Tony Morgan and Ron Marsh.

“Before I ever drove I admired Ronnie Marsh,” Pat recalled. “He was out of racing for seven years and came back into it like he’s never been gone. He really knows the horse he’s driving. If the horse is so-so, Ron will ride the wood and if the horse is really good, you can bet he’ll give him a shot.

“Palone and Morgan are both top guys at each place and both always seem to be in a good spot to win a race. They always have their choices of the best horses, which doesn’t hurt either.

“Dick Stillings is a very patient driver—he’s kind of like Dave Magee in his style of driving, while Mike Wilder is an aggressive driver who always has his horse in a good position.”

On his own driving abilities Pat says: “I always try to drive the way people want me to, and I always say thank you. That person with the couple of $4,000 claimers could have the next world champion. As a catch-driver you’re providing a service, and it is important to always be professional and polite.”

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March 4, 2008

The bad weather blues–that’s what many of the racing folks in Chicago are experiencing right now. According to a recent NPR (National Public Radio) report, the Windy City has experienced the fifth worst winter in history, since the Prairie State began keeping such records.

The countless near-blizzards, hazard driving conditions, sloppy barn areas and slippery racetracks have all put a damper on this winter’s Windy City racing scene. Balmoral has been forced to cancel four of its racing cards–a very rare occurence. On other nights, races have been delayed or a few events contested before the remained of the card has been called.

This speaks volumes on the fact that horsemen and racetrack crews are at the complete mercy of Mother Nature.

Consider that snow is much worse on a racetrack surface than rain. Track crews are constantly scraping excess snow off the track, and each time they do, they take a little bit of racetrack with them.

The track crews add salt to the water in the wintertime when the temperature dips below 22 degrees Farenheit, to keep the dust down, but another heavy snowfall requires another removel of snow, and again, a bit of the track goes with it. If there’s too much salt on the track surface, and the temperatures rise above 28 degrees Farenheit, the track will begin to thaw, and can cause horses to slip. The line between a great surface and one that is potentially dangerous is indeed a fine line.

Trainers do what they can to help their horses: they add borium to their shoes, and some add breathing masks to help defer the cold air from shocking a horse’s air passages while racing and training.

But what about the drivers? While I don’t know if they all get the blues at this time of year, most certainly, they get the chills.

These brave souls have to deal with tremendous headwinds and blinding snow when turning for home or entering the backstretch for the first (or only) time–depending if they’re racing on a half or one mile oval. Meeting Mother Nature’s ugly force when steering a 1,200-pound racehorse can only be described as bone chilling.

But do drivers change their race strategies when facing such conditions? Hall of Famer and Chicago mainstay Dave Magee said being on or near the front end is important when facing strong wind conditions.

“You want to be on the front end or near the front in a strong headwind,” noted Magee, a 53-year-old Wisconsin native. “It’s harder for horses to pass you with a strong headwind, so you take advantage to draw off a little bit down the backstretch in order to hopefully gain some lengths in the stretch.”

Fellow driver Mike Oosting agrees with Magee.

“You try to be on or near the lead with a headwind coming at you in the stretch,” the 45-year-old Michigan native said. “Usually the second and last quarters are going to be very slow. It’s too hard to pass another horse going into the wind for a lot of horses. Their attitudes just can’t handle that, and it takes a really strong horse to overcome that disadvantage. You have to live with the horse that you’ve been given to drive, and some of them just don’t like that strong of a wind hitting them in the face.”

Ohio native Tony Morgan, 49, who used to be a Chicago regular and now competes over East Coast ovals had this to say:

““I try to get into a groove that works at the beginning of the night during a bad weather situation and stick with it,” Morgan stated. “Sometimes it seems that being on the front end, or being first up is the right way to go and at other times, that theory just doesn’t fly. I tend to air horses out a lot more over a half-mile track than I will at a bigger track, such as Balmoral or The Meadowlands.

“Strategy is very important generally with a strong wind,” Morgan continued. “You just have to be the first driver to figure out what’s going to work best on a super windy night, and go with it. You can kind of get away with it for the first couple of races, until everyone else figures out where the best place to be on the race track is. It’s a lot easier early on in the evening than it is later in the night when it becomes a very biased race track.”

Other reinsmen had varied opinions.

“I take a strong headwind into consideration when driving,” said 2007 Driver of the Year Tim Tetrick, 26. “It depends a lot on the horse, however. Some horses stop as soon as that wind hits them in the face—it’s like punching them in their forehead. Others just seem to grind right into the wind more and more.”

“If I have a front-end horse I still try to be up close in the two-hole,” notes Illinois native Pat Berry, 30. “I might try a little harder to get up near the front with a horse who has some gate speed but you usually races covered up. I’d still rather be covered up than on top—that is, getting a two-hole trip.”

“I think a strong headwind affects each horse differently so you have to consider the horse you’re driving in a particular race,” said Dale Hiteman, 49, an Ohio native and longtime Chicago driver now racing at Pompano Park in Florida. “But no matter what, I always prefer to be near the front turning for home.”

“On a half mile track you can’t adjust anything too much—even in regards to a strong headwind,” noted Andy Miller, 36, an Illinois native racing at The Meadowlands. “You’re always better if you’re up close with a strong wind though. But the class of the horse still overrides the wind.”

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