Billy Davis Jr followed his father's footsteps into harness racing and has carved out a nice career in the sulky. The 35-year-old father of three started out in British Columbia before moving to Ontario and eventually the United States where he is a regular at Northfield Park. Just over a year into his Northfield Park experiment, Davis is feeling very much at home around the "Flying Turns" and hopes to make the move permanent.  A career winner of over 3,300 races, Davis is currently shuttling between the U.S. and Canada as he juggles his work life and family. During one of these treks across the border he took the time to chat about his career path, personal life and harness racing in general.  How did you get started in harness racing? I just followed in my dad's footsteps. He did it for years in British Columbia and I spent every weekend with him. Your dad Bill was a leading driver and a two-time O'Brien Award winner. How big of a role did he play in your path? He was my main inspiration. I never focused on anything else except racing and I tried to model myself after him; quiet guy, professional. He always gave me his support in a quiet way. He never really held my hand but he let me figure it out and he'd talk to me about it afterward. He was fantastic through it all. Was harness racing always in your plans? Like every kid I had sports aspirations. I wanted to be a hockey player but I stopped growing after 14 years old. I never had the physical attributes of an athlete. Who else most helped you start your career? Another trainer in British Columbia named Wayne Isbister. I spent a lot of time with him. He taught me a lot about the business and gave me a lot of drives when I first got my license.  What kind of car do you drive? 2019 Chevrolet Traverse. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Pizza; Apple. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? Right now it is definitely Northfield. I feel like I suit well to that track. They go. You have to have a plan and be able to adjust quickly. If you put on the brakes too much they come right at you and you need to adjust.  What is your favorite big event in racing? The North America Cup. I've seen them all since I started watching races. Have you ever been in the NA Cup? No, I've never been close. I've driven on the nights they've had them at Mohawk and it's electric. The people are into it. How often are horses or racing on your mind? Just when I'm at the track. I try not to overthink it. I used to do a lot of that. I used to tweet out all of my drives. It adds a lot of stress and pressure and takes away from the fun of the game. So I stepped back a bit and I'm not all about racing anymore, which is pretty nice. You mentioned Twitter. You used to be very active but have stopped. Why? I started it to try to bring more people into it and make them understand what was going on in the horse's head when they were racing. I would tweet about the week before and what I thought about my chances that night. Some people took things a different way. They would think I had a good shot with a horse and maybe bet it. Then if it didn't work out right, because every race doesn't go as planned and a horse can come up sick or something, I got a lot of backlash from people. That kind of took the fun out of it for me.  What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing? Baseball. I like going to games and just watching it when I have the opportunity. What is your favorite baseball team? Toronto Blue Jays. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I listen to heavy metal music. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Life. It is all I really knew growing up.  ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter You have over 3,300 wins as a driver. What does that number mean to you? It is a lot more than I probably thought I would get. It is a big number, obviously not as big as some other people, but I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished so far. I really don't have any goals set as to how many more I'll win. I just want to keep being productive and provide a good life for my family. You mentioned family. Who does that include? I have a beautiful wife and three little kids. My wife just gave birth about 10 days ago to our third. You also have dabbled a bit in training with 47 career wins. Why did you stop? When I started getting more drives in Ontario, I was driving two and maybe three tracks a day. I would do Flamboro in the afternoon and then Kawartha or somewhere else. A lot of times I wasn't able to ship my horses to race and I couldn't get there in time to train my horses because I had to race. It was getting hectic trying to train and drive. I chose one because I was getting more work driving at the time. What is one race you haven't won that you'd still like to win? Just the next race I'm in. I try not to look too far ahead. I'd love to win the North America Cup but it is hard to get into that. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, and I'm having success at it, so I'm going to try to keep it up. What was your best moment in harness racing? I won an Ontario Sire Stakes Super Final [2013] with Performing Art, a 2-year-old pacing filly. I think that is the first time I thought I had a decent shot at doing this for a career. Which is the best horse you've ever driven? Let's Drink On It for Joe Seekman. I only got to drive him three times when he brought him up to Ontario for some stakes, but he was really nice to drive.  Which was your favorite horse to drive? Southwind Amazon. I drove him quite a bit this year and he's just a complete professional. A lot of times it was just him racing and I was just sitting there. Every week he races hard. It is nice sitting behind horses like that and they don't come around too often so you have to appreciate it. You drove exclusively in Canada and then you decided to try the Buffalo/Batavia circuit. When did you make that move and why did you decide to go? I made the move about six years ago. Racing in Ontario got hit a little bit when the Slots at Racetracks program ended. A lot of dates got cut from tracks and purses were slashed. It made it difficult for a lot of people. A lot of times for drivers there would be two or three tracks going at the same time, so it spread a lot of people out. Then they stopped doing that. If you look at tracks now, like Flamboro, there will be like 20 or 30 drivers on the card. If you get five drives a night it is a busy night. A buddy of mine Tyler Nostadt called me up one night and asked me if I wanted to drive at Buffalo. I said absolutely, had a good night, and everyone said I should come back next week and they would put me down on their horses. It just kind of spiraled from there.  In April 2021 you showed up at Northfield Park and never left. Are you now a Buckeye? I think it is safe to say that I want to be one. I really enjoy the racing there and I hope I can stay there long term. There is so much racing there, they want to race and the money is fantastic. Is your family in Ohio? No, we still live in Ontario right now. We just had our third baby, so we are taking things slowly, but we are thinking about moving down there. Are you driving back and forth from Ontario to Ohio? I'm actually in the car right now on my way to Northfield. Starting in June they will be racing Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so I'll stay down there those days and go back home for four. Was the move originally COVID related? Yes. Racing got shut down in Ontario and I had to make a choice. Ontario went into another lockdown and management at Buffalo Raceway told me they didn't want me to cross the border back and forth because of COVID. If I wanted to keep driving at Buffalo I had to stay in the States. I stayed there during the lockdown and just trying to find things to do, a buddy of mine in Cleveland needed someone to ride for him in the morning, which gave me something to do and it developed quickly at Northfield. With racing being more aggressive in Ohio, did it take some getting used to? It did. The first few weeks I was there I didn't have a lot of power to work with, so I just kind of sat back and watched how everyone else was driving and adapted to that. It is a lot more aggressive but I think it suits me quite well.  If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I wish some of the tracks would want to race more and be more willing to change. It seems like a lot of tracks just don't adapt and it hurts the sport, whether it is racing certain times during the day or how the paddock is set up. With all the things going on with sports betting and other forms of entertainment, harness racing has had a tough time keeping up with it and a lot of places don't even try to adapt to bring in a younger crowd. How do you view the future of harness racing? It is strong in certain jurisdictions. Out east it is always going to be prominent and in Ohio, if you go to the fairs or the track, there are people and they want to be there. In some places they don't adjust and it hurts the sport but there are jurisdictions which are in good shape. If you weren't involved in harness racing, what would you be doing? Probably flipping burgers at McDonalds. I really don't have any skills. As soon as I reached 15 or 16 this was what I wanted to do and I focused on it. I didn't bother going to school for anything or getting a trade. This is always what I wanted to do. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse You Ever Saw: The one horse I always enjoyed was Captaintreacherous. He never really blew the doors off anybody but he just kept on going all the time. Best Trainer Ever: Ron Burke. You don't accidently win that many races. He's the best at managing horses. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes. Favorite TV Show?: Having kids if I'm lucky I can watch some sports. Trotters or Pacers?: Pacers.