Joe Lee keeps a busy schedule working as a financial advisor and for the New York Yankees. He also has lots of hobbies from bowling to music, but he still finds plenty of time to jump into the bike a few times a week to steer a Standardbred around the track.   Typically one of the leading amateur drivers in the sport, the 42-year-old Lee was coming off a big week with two wins and two seconds when we caught up with him to discuss his path in the sport, his many passions, amateur driving and much more.     How did you get started in harness racing? My parents owned some trotters when I was a kid and Ron Turcotte was their trainer. We used to go to Roosevelt, Freehold and Yonkers all the time. My mom had a groom's license and I grew up going to the racetrack. I've always loved horses and even show-jumped them for 20 years before I ever sat behind one. I got hooked up with Buzzy Sholty and he started letting me jog and train his barn with him, and the rest is history. Would you say that Buzzy is the person who helped you the most in your career? Yeah, no question about it. At the time he was training at White Birch Farm and he had about 40-head in the barn. He knew I had been around horses so right away he would let me jog the horses, then deal with the equipment and eventually training. My initial goal was just to get behind the gate one time and get my qualifying license. I just wanted to see what it was like at full speed. I went down to his place every Saturday morning and every holiday I could for a couple of years, whether it was rain or snow. I would leave my house in Yonkers at the time at 4:30 in the morning and get to White Birch at like 6:30. Buzzy gave me those first opportunities, then Joe Holloway, Mike Sorentino Jr., Carl Tirella and Dennis Laterza. Unless you are going to buy and train your own horses, you have to find people who will trust you with their horses. I was very fortunate, just by hanging out at the farm, to meet other people. Joe Holloway gave me my first drive in a qualifier at Freehold, but all of those guys, without them I never would've even gotten a license. What kind of car do you drive? Honda Accord. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Veal Cutlet with marinara sauce; Pepperidge Farm cheddar goldfish. I can eat them all day. What is your favorite track to visit? Why? I love racing at Freehold. It is very homey to me. I like the smaller venue and there are people watching the races on a Saturday afternoon. But there is nothing like winning a race at The Meadowlands. Just going behind the gates under the lights is always special. I won a race during the Little Brown Jug in Delaware, Ohio and that was special. Each track has something about it. What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? I've always liked going to the Hambletonian and seeing a full card of stakes races. Certainly the Meadowlands Pace has that feel as well. I'm also a big fan of the Breeders Crown and Breeders' Cup. You get the best horses and it is like having 12 Hambletonians or Kentucky Derbies. You get to see the best of the best. How often are horses or racing on your mind? I either look at the entries or results every day. There is so much amateur racing going on right now. There is a draw almost every day between Freehold, Monticello, Meadowlands, Yonkers. You think about it all the time because you have to find horses to drive or see if you got in and arrange your week. You own 79 wins and a solid 12.8% win percentage as an amateur driver. Are you proud of those numbers? I think that the last few years my numbers have gotten better. When I first started I wasn't driving in the amateur races. I was just driving in the pro races and didn't know how the amateurs worked. Once I switched to a mix, and I'm mainly just amateurs now, my numbers got better. I don't look at the numbers much except at the end of the year to see how they ended up. If there is one number I look at is the UDRS. I like to be around .280 to .300 because that is like my batting average. You get hot and cold during the year. You probably are never as good as you think you are or as bad as you think you are. Have you started thinking about win number 100? No. I do think sometimes about the guys who have been racing longer than I have like Dein Spriggs or Joe Pennacchio and wonder if I can reach their win totals. Dein has like 500 career wins. Some of these guys are really good and have done really well over the years with much more limited amateur racing available.  What's the greatest thing about driving as an amateur? Winning never gets old but the rush of having the starter at any track saying 'let's get them together', every time I go behind the gate, whether I have a big shot or no chance, it never gets old to me. It is living the dream. To be on the same playing field as the greats who've competed in the sport and sometimes in the same races as them, you never take that for granted.  What's the worst thing? This would be true about racing in general, but sometimes the race doesn't go how you think or somebody you thought wouldn't leave, left, or someone you thought wouldn't be in your way gets in your way. There is nothing really bad about amateur racing other than the danger of it, though that's in any race.  You are coming off a week where you had two wins and two seconds in five starts. That must've been thrilling? Yeah. The first one at Yonkers I had never driven before for Dennis Laterza and he wired the field. The other winner at The Meadowlands for Carl Tirella, I had driven him a couple of weeks before and he was 0-for-40 since coming to the United States from Australia. I caught him on the right night and he went in 1:51 3/5 and that was his lifetime mark. The two seconds, one was from the 10-hole and I was hoping for a check but he got a perfect trip third-over and he had lots left in the tank turning for home. The other one, A B Collins, he fit like non-winners-of-4 at Yonkers and it looked like a tough spot but he handled it well. He was used to the lead and he dug in well for second. It made for a nice weekend. Carl Tirella is a former amateur. Is he reliving those dreams through you? Yeah, he tells me sometimes if I mess up he is going to put his colors back on and take over [laughing]. Carl has always been one to give me lots of opportunities and we've always been a good team.  You have 615 career drives and compete against people with even more drives. In your mind, is there a point where a driver shouldn't be considered an amateur anymore? No, as long as you abide by the rules and forego the commissions check. It is nice to be able to drive in the pros and the amateurs, because anytime you get to drive with the pros, whether at The Meadowlands or the smaller tracks like Monticello and Freehold, it is always a learning experience. They drive a lot tighter, head to head and wheel to wheel. The amateurs are a bit looser because some of them are hesitant to keep their horses' nose right on the helmet of the person in front of them. Plus, what if you drive 5,000 races as an amateur and you don't win many or have one great horse that you dominate with in the amateurs but do poorly with all the others? Do either of those circumstances make a driver pro-level? It is too gray of an area.  ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Your "day job" as assistant equipment manager for the New York Yankees gets highlighted often as you win races. Do you mind getting that recognition? Over the years John Manzi and Ken Warkentin have come up with the nickname Yankee Joe Lee. Even that is just a side job for me. My full-time job is as a financial advisor for a firm in Valhalla, New York. The baseball thing is always attached to me because it is a cooler job.  Do you find it hard to find time to drive during the baseball season? I try to schedule the races as much as I can when the team is on the road. During the off-season I can drive as much as I want. Between the office job and the Yankees, I can bring my laptop to the Stadium, so if a client calls and wants to make a trade or go over their portfolio, I can do it there. I've done it for so long that it becomes natural, but sometimes it is a hustle. What's it like to be in the Yankee clubhouse all the time? I'm there 28 seasons so I've seen a lot of baseball. It's like anything else, it just becomes a job that you do when you are there and then you go home. The cool aspect is that you get to see the game from a different perspective that the fans don't get to see. It is almost like being backstage at a show, you see all the preparations that it takes to get these guys on and off the field each day.  Obviously harness racing struggles with visibility. Do you find any of the players over the years taking an interest in your driving? Absolutely, because sometimes I'll bring my colors to the Stadium to throw them in the washer and dryer and they'll say 'what's that helmet?' or 'what's that outfit?' I'll explain it and some guys will ask to see videos of my races. Nester Cortes currently is very interested in my racing. He's always asking if I raced and to see the video. One time for the Kentucky Derby they had a pool in the clubhouse and had one of the smaller guys put on my colors to look like a jockey when he was choosing the numbers for everyone.  What if a track like The Meadowlands extended an invitation to the entire team to eat in Pink, do you think that would go over well? I think they would embrace it if they knew what the sport was or they knew someone who was in the races. It would be a nice opportunity for them to see the races live. Anyone who has never been to the races it is a cool opportunity to see it for the first time. Then you get questions about why they sit behind the horses instead of on them or questioning about whether drivers have to be little to compete. That starts the conversation of the differences between the Thoroughbreds and the Standardbreds.  Anyone over 20 likely relates the Yankees in some respect with George Steinbrenner. Did you ever meet him? If so, what was he like? I met him a number of times because he would always come to the clubhouse to do walk-throughs and check on the team. At times he was a fiery guy, he wanted things done a certain way, but he was the boss and you respect that. There were other times when he was very generous. He would always ask how many guys were working and he would tip everybody. I always see you playing the piano on Facebook. What about your love of music? I grew up playing and took lessons from about 8 years old to about 17 or 18. I always loved it. Now it is more of a pleasure when people come over to the house and take music off the shelf and ask me to play it. It makes for a nice dinner party. People like to have a couple of drinks and sit around the piano and sing along. It has always been a hobby for me. I've never been a professional or anything like that. It beats watching too much TV. It beats watching CNN and Fox all day. It's an escape for me. The amateur races can be unpredictable. Do you have any tips for handicappers trying to pick winners in them? I don't look at the program much anymore, I try to drive them off my eye, but typically at The Meadowlands the more patient you can be the better off you'll be in those type of races. A lot of times there is a fight for the lead and the horses will get down to the half pretty quick, like a couple of weeks ago I got caught up in it myself. I wanted to leave from the 10-hole and the horse got down to the half in 53 and change. I looked at the tele-timer and thought I was toast. If you can get away fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, for the most part, most horses will come into play at The Meadowlands because someone is usually parking someone up front or going too fast.  What is your favorite sport to watch? Harness racing. I don't watch any other pro sports on TV. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I bowl on Monday and Thursday nights and have a 216 average.  What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Passion. What is the best advice you've ever gotten or given about harness racing? Be patient in the race and to try as best you can to slow down the race in your eye. I think when I struggled early on the race was moving in my eye so fast that when I was thinking of making a move the opportunity would pass me before I could do it. Then you get caught in a bad situation. Once the race slowed down in my eye, then I was the one dictating the race and what moves to make. I used to hear that from Joe Torre when he would have a team meeting after guys made too many errors in the field. He would always tell them that the game was going to fast in their eyes and they should slow down the game. I used that in racing and it definitely made a difference in my driving.  The first time I was in a qualifier at Freehold with Joe Holloway's horse, the gate let us go and I don't even remember where the gate went. I knew I was behind the gate and the next thing I thought was get to the rail and don't run anyone over. I didn't even see the gate peel away and go off to the side because everything was happening so fast. I felt like I was going 150 miles per hour when we are actually at 37 at full race speed. Until you are in enough races where things start to go slower, you can struggle out there, but when it slows down, it is a whole different game. It seems to me that amateur driving in general has changed over the years. Do you see that? I think that it has evolved over the years to have better drivers who are driving more. Years ago you had more guys who would come out of offices and just wanted to get a license and drive. It was really more amateur in the way that more drivers were novices. I think today the amateurs that drive regularly, they aren't novices anymore. A lot of these guys work at different farms and work for trainers. Jonathon Ahle works for Shaun Vallee every day in the barn. Monica Banca was driving with us and she sits behind horses every day. Hannah Miller sits behind horses every day. To our credit, there haven't been many incidents out there and the last two years at all the tracks the racing has been very clean, and that's why we are on the card. If the races weren't good The Meadowlands wouldn't be using four of our races on a Friday night. Yes, we help fill the cards but at the same time people are betting them. This past week alone [April 29-30] the four races did $925,000 in handle. There is different interest in it but people clearly don't mind betting it. If you look at the people driving in the amateurs, so many of them are getting over a 100 drives a year. This week [May 2-8] alone we are racing at Monticello on Wednesday, Friday at The Meadowlands and two at Freehold on Saturday. Most of the people are driving in all eight races -- Tony Verruso, myself, Jonathan Ahle, Jake Stillwell. It is the same guys and girls racing against each other and I think that makes it safer as well because you get to know their tendencies. No disrespect, but if you were to go out there after not having driven in seven years that might be more dangerous than the guy who has been doing it five or six times a week. I do keep an extra eye out if there is someone who I've never heard of or haven't seen on the track before because I don't know if they will know what to do in a split-second situation. You have to be put in situations to learn that.  Do you own any horses? Not right now. The last two I had got claimed right away.  If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I would like to see pari-mutuel wagering modernized and figure out a way to do some fixed odds wagering. I think pari-mutuel wagering deters a lot of people because they don't understand how they can bet something at 10-1 that ends up paying $7.80 to win. I think people would like to get locked in on the price they bet. Obviously it can go the other way too and you can bet something at 2-1 that pays $20.00, but you don't hear those stories as much. I know there has been talk about it but I don't know if it will happen or not. In today's world everyone has a short attention span; they want instant gratification. Twenty-five to thirty minutes between races with odds jumping around is not conducive to people's mindsets. The majority of people play slot machines; they hit a button every few seconds. Or they play in-game on a sports wagering site on the next play. It is instant all the time. With racing you have to read the program, learn the different types of bets and why the odds are changing.  How do you view the future of harness racing? I see it two ways. It is a delicate balance to be funding it like we are with being subsidized by slot revenues. You see what happens with a place like Pompano and it is scary to think that could happen all over the place. That is one side of it, thinking the states could take over and say it is a losing game and why do we have to keep funding it. They'll decouple the casinos from the racing purses and the game is over. But I also see it as the game has changed so much from the beginning of the sport until now and somehow it is still surviving. Yeah, it might be on a smaller scale then in the '60s and the '70s, but somehow Monticello, Yonkers and Freehold survive. Because of Jeff Gural there will be racing at The Meadowlands. The racing community and racing has adapted to survive. So I can see it going two ways. Time for the stretch drive.  Best Horse you ever saw: Muscle Hill on the trotting side and Foiled Again on the pacing side. Foiled Again was just so gutsy. He was smart and knew how to race. He never won by five or 10 lengths. Most of his wins were by a head, a neck a length.   Best Driver Ever: John Campbell and Walter Case. I wasn't around to see Billy Haughton or George Sholty drive.  Best Amateur Driver: Right now it is Tony Verruso, he can't lose. He is way up there. To me the answer to that is who I would want to sit behind in a race to get cover from and certainly Tony is a live helmet to follow. Mark Silva is another one I'd like to follow. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes, because it clearly helps a horse who is having problems bleeding. It allows them to race to their ability. If I had high blood pressure to function at my best, I should be allowed to take it. To me it would be a real harm if horses couldn't take Lasix.  Favorite TV Show?: Jeopardy. Trotters or Pacers?: It doesn't matter. To me driving trotters is more like an art where you have to keep them on gait and feel the balance in your hands with the connection in their mouth. Pacers you can just drive on go and fire them out. Pacers almost never break.