Geovany Hernandez is just in his third full year as a trainer and second as an amateur driver, but the New Jersey resident is making a name for himself as someone to watch in the overnight ranks at The Meadowlands. The 33-year-old already has 63 training wins from 465 starts (13.5%) and a healthy 23 wins from 132 starts (17%) as a driver. (as of May 1) While Hernandez only has a few years “on record” as a trainer, he has been in the country for 15 years learning the ropes from top barns. Now he trains a dozen of his own. It took a day to track down the busy horseman, but once we did he spent ample time discussing his path in the sport, the success of his barn, his goals and much more. Enjoy!    How did you get started in harness racing? I’m from Guatemala. We have horses and I always liked to be around them. We don’t race horses but I would ride them. I came here in 2010 and starting working for Buzzy Sholty as a groom. It never seemed like a job because I liked it. I worked for him for about two years but he started to lose his horses and didn’t have a job for me anymore. Then I worked for Nifty Norman for like three years. I was a groom but when the people who rode for him had to qualify or go on the road, I would go to the track to jog. He saw that I liked to do it and would always ask me if I wanted to train in sets. So I learned how to train but I wasn’t making enough money because he only had 2- and 3-year-olds and not that many horses. Then Gilbert Garcia-Herrera, who has all [overnight] race horses, offered me a job and I got to go to the races almost every day [to paddock horses] and he would let me train some with him. After a little while I saved money and started buying my own horses. I bought my first horse with Tom Shay. I would get up at 4 a.m. and work on my horse before I worked for Gilbert and started doing good. That proved to me that I could do the job. After about a year of having a couple of horses I applied for my trainer’s license. I love training. You also participate as a driver in the sport. How did that get started? Tom Shay saw me on the track and thought I could do both training and driving. When I started driving amateur races I really enjoyed it and started doing good. For my horses it is a little easier for them because they don’t have to go as fast and the money is still good. You own a 13.5% win rate as a trainer but an even better 17% success rate as a driver. Are you a better driver or trainer? That is a tough question. I very much drive my own horses. I’d have to start driving for other people more before I could know that. I know when my horses feel good and when they can win a race. I think I’m a good driver because when the driver is nervous the horse can feel that. You need to feel the horse through the lines. They tell me in the post parade whether they’ll be right there. They might not win but they’ll be there. Sometimes I’ll even know in the warm-up because I like to warm up all my own horses. While you mostly compete in amateur races as a driver, you aren’t afraid to drive in the regular races. What makes you decide to use a catch-driver? Sometimes if I don’t have enough help to warm up my horses I’ll put down a regular driver. At The Meadowlands I like to drive myself if I can because it is more fun to drive on the mile track. How many horses are in your barn? 12. Two of them are babies. You own a lot of your own horses. Was that always the plan when you started on your own? When I first started I had my own horse and I was doing ok. When I was working for other people I saw that some people don’t like to pay the trainer and when the horses didn’t race good they’d have to explain what went wrong. The people ask a bunch of questions, but sometimes the horse was just no good. There are no answers. When you have your own horse, you don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself. You just get up earlier the next morning and try to figure out how to fix it for next week. Is it difficult to start a stable from scratch? What types of horses do you look to buy? I buy skinny horses that don’t look good or horses that haven’t been doing good for other people. It takes me like a month or a month and a half to get them good. I do a lot of work myself to try to save money. I paddock my own horses, warm up, and I shoe my own horses too. Like I said, I had horses my whole life and would shoe my horses at home. What is your favorite track to race at and why? The Meadowlands, but I started at Freehold. I won my first race there. I liked when it was open. But The Meadowlands is more fun to drive at. You can come from the back and a couple of my horses have won that way. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? Spend time with my family. I have two kids and when I don’t have to race I spend time with them. I have a girl who is 4 and a boy that is 2. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing? Everybody I have worked for have really helped me. I always tried to do my job right. When I worked with Nifty and told him it was my last week, he didn’t want to believe it. He offered me more money. He told me, I understand you want to make more money but anytime I wanted to come back I would have my job there. Before that, Buzzy helped me get the job with Nifty. Everybody I worked for treated me good. So the advice is to be good to other people. What was your best moment in harness racing? When I won my first race driving and training [Sept 2024]. That was only in my dreams when I started in this business. My dreams were coming true slowly and when it finally happened I was so happy. I went to Freehold to drive that horse [Rockford Peach] and he won. I then went right to Yonkers to do one or two paddocks. I was so happy driving to Yonkers that day. Another big moment was when I won two races at The Meadowlands on one card. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Which is the best or favorite horse in your barn right now? When I was a groom there were people who picked favorites. For me they are all my favorites. I treat them all the same – good. Whether the horse is good or not I love them all. You are just 33 years old. How do you see your future in harness racing? I just want to keep training my own horses. I can see some people might want to give me horse because they see I’m doing good. I just want to keep working hard and do my best. My wife told me not to work too hard but this is a business where you have to work hard to do good. I come into the barn like 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning every day. If we are racing I get home at like 1:00 in the morning and I still show up by 5:00 because you need to be there every day. If you do the right job every day the horses will pay you off on the track. So I treat them good every day. I told my wife that I want to keep working hard so I can make enough money to one day buy a house for my family. Earlier this year you were winless at The Meadowlands in 23 starts but since then you have won 10 times in 36 starts. How does a sharp turnaround like that occur? Around January I went home to Guatemala for two weeks. I gave the horses one week off and then I paid someone to jog the horses the other week. When I came back I trained the horses only once and put them in to race. I went easy with the horses the first couple of weeks because I knew they weren’t going to be ready for their best. The weather also wasn’t good. I couldn’t train some days and some got sick. Once they all got back to their regular routine things got back to normal. I recall an interview with Gilbert Garcia-Herrera where he also would go home for two weeks and his horses would come back to form slowly. Did you get that from him? Yeah. He didn’t push his horses when he first came back. After a couple of starts he would race them more aggressively. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? Maybe tracks only racing in the daytime. It would be better for us because we could sleep more [laughing]. It is tough to come back at 1 am and be in the barn at 5 am or 6 am to feed the horses and put them out in the field. What does a day in the life of Geovany Hernandez look like? Today I’m on my way to Pocono. I had to leave the barn at 9 am. I got up at 3 and was in the barn at 3:30 to feed the horses and put them out. I did leave a couple out at night. I did the stalls I had to do; someone helped me. I had to move like 12 horses. The first one was on the track at like 5:30. The horses can’t win if they sit in the stall. The races go fast and the horses need to be out and in good condition. I like to put all of my horses out in the field before they go to the track. It is not good to keep them in a room and then send them to the track to run. They need to be moving a little bit. Where are you stabled? Winners Training Center. It is a very nice place. Time for the stretch drive… Best Horse you ever saw: When I was working with Nifty he had Bee A Magician. That mare was a big machine; an amazing horse.  Lasix – Yes or No: Yes. It helps the horses a lot. Favorite TV Show: I put in a lot of hours with my horses so I don’t really watch TV. Trotters or Pacers:  I like them both. I’ve never driven a trotter until the one I have now Gingertree Stakias, but he is very nice to drive. I love that horse.