Tyler Borth is a second-generation horseman located in Canada that arrived on the scene at Woodbine Mohawk Park about a year ago and has really grabbed hold in the driver’s colony. The 31-year-old sits fifth in both wins and earnings in 2024 on the drivers’ leaderboard. In addition to over 1,800 career wins, Borth also has 155 training victories to his credit. While his busy schedule put this interview on hold for a few days, we were able to track him down on his way to Woodbine Mohawk Park one evening for a quick chat on his journey in the sport. Enjoy!   How did you get started in harness racing? Through my parents. Both my mom [Karen Sparling] and my dad [Bill Borth] had a stable of horses. You’ve been doing this for just over 10 years. Was there ever a chance you wouldn’t be a driver or trainer? No, I don’t think so. Even when I was in high school, that was the only thing on my mind; how quickly I could get to the barn and finish up. Speaking of double duty, while driving is your main focus, you’ve sent out at least 34 starters per year as a trainer and already have 30 starts in 2023. Do you plan to expand that area? We do have a bunch at the barn and my girlfriend Katie MacNeil is now trainer on them all. We have about 10 right now. I always like to buy yearlings at the sale and I think I’ll always have some involvement training horses. You are winning at 33% as a trainer the last three years. What goes into that success? The horses are at my dad’s farm and they get treated like horses there. They are outside a lot, they are happy and healthy, my dad’s a pretty good blacksmith so they are shod properly, and they are usually in the right class. Moving onto driving, after a successful career on the Ontario B Circuit you are now a regular at Woodbine Mohawk Park. What made you take that step? Obviously I’m a bit later in my career now having been in it 10 years. I guess you could say I kind of took over the B tracks. People started to notice and would tell me I had to give Mohawk a try. So I did and it is working out better than I thought it would right off the bat. At this point in the interview we were interrupted as Tyler stopped for a decaf coffee, which led to the spontaneous question: Doesn’t a catch-driver need a regular coffee before the races? I always drink a regular coffee in the morning. When I drink a regular coffee at this time at night [5:45 PM] sometimes I get home and I can’t sleep. You had a career year with 414 wins and $3.1 million in horse winnings as a driver in 2023. Is the sky the limit for Tyler Borth? Last year, to win that many races, I drove a lot of the smaller tracks all summer. I drove at Hanover, at Clinton, I even went to Georgian a few times, and Western Fair too. I don’t plan on doing that again this year. It was a long summer and a lot of hours in the car. I’m going to take a little more time to myself and try not to race in the afternoons. If I can get 400 wins just racing at Mohawk I’ll take that too [laughing], but you have to be James MacDonald to do that. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? Western Fair, and obviously Mohawk now too, but Western Fair is like home to me. It is 20 minutes from my house and I got my first win there. I love driving there. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I like hunting and in the summer I like to golf. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? That I try to win every race I’m in [laughing]. Some of the people on Twitter like to mouth off and tell me I’m not trying but trust me I’m trying to win every race. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Exciting. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten or given about harness racing? The best advice I’ve been given is to enjoy the good times and write off the bad ones. The best I could give to a young driver is to keep your head down, go to work every day with a positive attitude and it will eventually get better. What was your best moment in harness racing? Recently it would be winning the Ontario Super final with Ghostly Casper [2023]. Which is the best horse you’ve ever driven? Amigo Volo. He’s a really nice horse. As a younger person in the sport, how can we attract that audience? I’m not really sure of the answer. If I knew I would put it out there. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? Try to get more people to the track and have the grandstand full like it used to be when my dad was racing in his younger days. Do you remember those days from when you were a kid? Not really. I saw a lot looking at pictures. Now at London [Western Fair] or a big night at Mohawk the grandstands are full but looking back at Windsor Raceway or Western Fair from years ago the grandstands were always packed. How do you view the future of harness racing? I don’t think it is as bright as it could be. There is strength in Ontario but I don’t think all of the tracks that are currently going will be going in 10 years. The purses are just not high enough at some of the small tracks to make any money. Along those lines, would you ever consider coming down to the U.S. to drive? I’m happy where I’m at. Right now at Mohawk I’m lucky enough to be making decent money. If I can stay at Mohawk and do well, I’m going to stay. If that changed maybe I’d consider a U.S. move, but as of right now I’m not going anywhere. Being up in Canada you can get some Grand Circuit exposure but it is limited to mostly Mohawk. Do you have ambitions to go from track to track on that level? I would like to if I found a horse here. Last year I got to drive Ghostly Casper in a Breeders Crown elimination and I’d love to do more things like that. There are some nice horses that race in the Grand Circuit up in Canada so hopefully I’ll pick one up there. What does a day in the life of Tyler Borth look like? It depends on the day but usually I get up in the morning, get a large black coffee from Timmys {Tim Hortons], then I go to the barn, I may or may not clean a couple of stalls [laughing], then I get on the track and go with a bunch of the horses. I never used to take a nap but now racing at Mohawk you get home fairly late so I’ve been doing that; then take a shower and get on the road to the races. I’m about an hour and 10 minutes from Mohawk. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse you ever saw:  Somebeachsomewhere. Lasix – Yes or No: No – I don’t know if I’ve ever had a horse on Lasix. I’ve just never really had a lot of horses that were bleeders. I know a lot of people do like it but I’ve never really seen the big difference when I look at the Trackit lines and you have to pay like $70 up here for it plus get to the track 4-5 hours earlier. It messes your whole day up. Favorite TV Show: I usually watch the races or UFC. I’m a big fan of that. Trotters or Pacers:  Trotters.