What kind of car do you drive? 2021 Volkswagen Jetta. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Swordfish; Veggies. What is your favorite all-time track to visit? Why? Ocean Downs -- I worked there two summers over 20 years ago. I love the area, but I miss the old grandstand. What is your favorite big event in racing? Sun Stakes Saturday, of course, but I enjoy them all, everywhere. How did you get started in harness racing? I come from a racing family. My parents bought a couple of horses in the early 1960's and we were off and racing. You worked as Racing Secretary or in the racing department at about 10 tracks. Are there major differences from track to track? Actually, I've worked at 17 tracks, mostly on the East Coast from Bangor, Maine to Pompano Beach, Florida. I did a 4-year stint out west (or sort of out west) at Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio. Every track is different in its own way. The obvious way is the race/purse structure that each track has to offer. A number of the tracks you used to work out, like Rockingham Park, Brandywine Raceway and Scarborough Downs, no longer exist. Is that a bit surreal for you? It absolutely is. The one that sticks in my mind the most is where I worked 50 years ago. That being Hinsdale Raceway in New Hampshire. In the late 1960's my family moved from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. I called [charted] Hinsdale for many years. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter You've been Director of Racing/Racing Secretary at Pocono for over a decade now. Has it been a smooth ride? Ah, define smooth ride? There are always "bumps" on a smooth ride, even on the best highways. Do you find it harder to card full fields now than when you started at Pocono? Sure. The purses determine everything. People follow the money. That's just the nature of the game; always has been. There are two main factors that have been making it harder this season: Nearby tracks have been able to increase purses to make themselves more than competitive for the limited horse supply in the area and in regards to our overnight purses, we had to cut back due to the shutdown that was a result of the pandemic. Hopefully in the not-to-distant future we will be able to increase them. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? Football -- Patriots. Even without Tom what's-his-name. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I think there's a line in Forrest Gump that goes, "Life is what happens while making other plans." I never really planned on a career in harness racing. The first two years I worked as an Assistant Race Secretary was to just make money for college. I was a Television/Film major. But here I am 50 years later. Racing's been very good to me. I hope I've been good to harness racing. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Family. As I've said, my family got into racing a long time ago. My late brother, Bobby, was a leading driver in New England. He had an untimely accident in April 1973. That summer I helped my father with the stable. In the fall, I started working in race offices and kept on traveling. Do you have a favorite horse from your time in the sport? I would have to say Rambling Willie. He was just a tough campaigner from very humble beginnings. When I worked at Monticello, he was on his book tour. He raced in a special invitational there out of the 8-hole and went a monster mile to win it. What is the best advice you've ever gotten about harness racing? Initially, early on, the one piece of advice I remember was to know your barn area to know what you have for horses to race. But that has become a lost art in that the majority of tracks today simply do not have barn areas anymore. It's because of that that, as a race secretary, you really don't know what you'll have in a class from one week to the next. What was your favorite moment in harness racing? When I used to spend the winters in Pompano. What's the strangest thing to happen to you in harness racing? In 1983, I went up to Scarborough Downs in Maine as a Paddock Judge. Three weeks into the meet, I get a phone call after the races on a Saturday night for a meeting with the track owner. He tells me I am now the race secretary. That was my first job as a race secretary. Do you view marque racing cards like Sun Stakes as important to Pocono and the sport? Sure do. Without them that would be like baseball not having the World Series. Is it difficult putting on an event like Sun Stakes? I suppose, but again the money will draw the best for it. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I would definitely want to see more uniform rules between the states. How do you view the future of harness racing? Harness racing is going to be around for a while. It's an American sport. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse you've seen?: Niatross. I was actually in the paddock with him when he came from standing in Kentucky to Pine Hollow Stud in New York State. Favorite TV Show?: Game of Thrones. Trotters or Pacers?: Pacers.