He may only have 22 starts in the bike this year but Josert Fonseca is walking around with a winning percentage of 36% and a .520 UDRS. The 34-year-old is coming off a career year in the bike when he won 16 of 123 starts and he is doing it all while also working as a second trainer for Nancy Takter. A native of Costa Rica, Fonseca came here more than two decades ago with his family and fell in love with the sport. Now he is working with and driving some high-quality talent including Ants Marching, a late-blooming 3-year-old who won the April 22 Standardbred Retirement Foundation final at The Meadowlands. Despite his busy schedule, Fonseca took the time on his drive to Pocono - where he would paddock and drive Sweet Phenomena - to discuss his path in the sport and his future. How did you get started in harness racing? I basically got started from a friend through high school, he was working for Jimmy Takter at the time. He took with me with him to feed the horses one day at I feel in love with it and said I’d love to get a job there. Ever since then I’ve pretty much been there every single day. You came to New Jersey from Costa Rica at age 8. Do you recall why your family decided to move? My dad’s brother lived here and he wanted to come visit him. He came and really liked it and we were fortunate to get a visa to visit my dad. We obviously liked it and ended up just staying because there are better opportunities. You started working for Hall of Famer Jimmy Takter as a groom and then trainer. How much of a learning experience was it working for him? He is just unreal. Just being around Jimmy, at least for me, every time he entered the room I wanted to impress him and be like him. I just watched his every little move and tried to soak in as much as I could. When you have someone who is so successful at anything, you tend to be drawn to them, and to me he was like a god in a way. I wanted to learn as much as I could in the time that I had and he always loved teaching you. If you showed him a little interest, he would really take you under his wing and teach you and teach you. Now you work with trainer Nancy Takter. Would it be fair to call you her second trainer? Yes, that is basically what I am. She is obviously the main person and she works hard. There are three other trainers besides her and we all do what we can to help her. Do you see yourself branching out with your own stable at some point? I don’t know. I’ve thought about it in the past but I really enjoy what I do and I like not having the stress of the big responsibilities. I feel like I’m very good at helping make things better for Nancy and at the same time I think it really helps me. For right now I’m content but you never in the future – not too close to now – what will happen. Driving seems to be a passion for you. After a career year in 2022 and early success this year, are you going to pursue that further? I love driving. It is a huge adrenaline rush. I’ve gotten to drive these horses for Jimmy and Nancy, so that makes it a little easier. I would love to drive as much as I can but that comes with time, experience and trust from your owners and boss. Right now I’m trying to do the best that I can with every opportunity that I get and prove to them that I can do the same thing that these other guys out there are doing. Do you think you’re a good driver? I believe so. Jimmy told me when I first started, ‘you are not going to have any idea what you are doing in the races until you’ve driven 150 to 200 races, so just take them as qualifiers and do the best you can.’ At the time I was just thinking that I know everything, but looking back at it he was 100 percent right. I don’t think people realize how fast the decision-making goes on the track. You have to make split-second decisions and when you are new you don’t make the right decisions often times. I think now that I’ve had more experience, I try to put myself in better situations than what I was doing in the beginning. You’ve driven a bunch of nice young horses already this year and have won seven of 17 starts. Which of that group do you think we’ll be hearing the most from in 2023? Ants Marching is definitely a nice horse. He showed a lot of speed last year and this year as well. He’s just one that took a bit of patience but I think he can develop to be a nice little horse. He’s got his head straight now and he’s behaving. He’s fast and the more experience he gets, I think the better he’ll become.  You’ve sat behind some really nice horses working for the Takters. Which are some of your favorites? One Eight Hundred might be the horse. He was flawless in his gait. I remember the first time I drove him I was so impressed with how easy he did it. He would go 25 quarters like he was jogging. It never felt like he was breaking a sweat. No Lou Zing was a very fast horse. He was probably my first time feeling those really fast quarters. He really had great speed once he got it all together. For Jimmy mainly I drove trotters, so that was a little different. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter What is your favorite track to race at? Why? The Meadowlands. Everybody wants to race at The Meadowlands and it really is hard to win there. I love The Red Mile and Pocono Downs but when you get a win at The Meadowlands it just feels a bit more special for some reason. What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? The Hambletonian. Being part of the Takter farm, we’ve always had 15-20 horses racing that day every year, so it has always been special for me because of the amount of talent we bring. It is a stressful but a very rewarding day. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I work out every day. I just find it important to keep myself in shape. Ever since I started doing that things in my life have gotten a lot better. You know what they say, health is wealth, and I take that with a lot of priority. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? I play the guitar and can sing pretty well. I like to experiment with music. 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? That you should never stop learning. What was your best moment in harness racing? Maybe driving No Lou Zing in the Adios. Which is the best horse you’ve ever driven? No Lou Zing. He wasn’t necessarily the best horse at the time I was driving him, but he developed into the best horse I’ve ever sat behind. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? To be able to make the sport more public and make more people aware of it. I was going to North Burlington high school in Columbus, New Jersey and I’ve always lived about 15 minutes from a few racetracks, but I never knew until I was 20 years old that harness racing even existed. So, if I had the power to do something it would be to make more people aware of the sport, not just the people involved in it. How do you view the future of harness racing? Hopefully the future at least remains as it is. I think the more fan base that we can reel in will only help. The racing industry seems to have a large number of Hispanic and Latino people involved. Any thoughts on why? The work is very time consuming and a lot of Latinos and Hispanics tend to work hard and are willing to do things that maybe other people wouldn’t. A lot of people that work in this business have a horse background back in their countries. That goes to their passion for the horses and that’s why they choose to do it here. Time for the stretch drive. Best Horse you ever saw: Tall Dark Stranger – He was just unreal. He knew what he was doing and had the will to win. Best Driver Ever: John Campbell. Lasix – Yes or No: Yes. Favorite TV Show: Discovery channel. Trotters or Pacers: Trotters.