What kind of car do you drive? Chevrolet Silverado Pickup. I've driven that for 20 years. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Rib Steak -- I'm a meat lover; Fruit, apples and oranges. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? Woodbine Mohawk Park because it is 25 minutes from where my stables are [Ideal Training Centre] and they race 12 months a year. Nothing beats Mohawk Park for people like me who live in Ontario.  What is your favorite big event in racing? Every race that I'm in is a big event for me. I like the Maple Leaf Trot and Canadian Trotting Classic.  How often is racing on your mind? 24/7 -- That's all I do. I think about horses. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. We live and breathe horses in my barn. What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing? I don't really do much now. I'll be 63 this year. I watch golf on Sunday afternoons to relax. I like to play but I don't do it much anymore, maybe a couple of times a year. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? NFL Football. I'm a Tom Brady fan, so for a long time I liked New England and now Tampa Bay [Bucs]. Back in the 1980's I was a Joe Montana fan. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? Maybe that I'm a hard-working man? I'm pretty open in what I do and there isn't much to add. There's not much people don't know. I just tell it like it is. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Work -- If you don't do the work you don't succeed in this business.  How did you get started in the sport?  My dad was in the business. He got started because his brother-in-law's daughter was marrying Ron Turcotte in New Jersey. He is my Godfather and he introduced my dad to racing. I was born into the business. My dad was involved in it full-time as far back as I can remember. Was there ever a chance that you wouldn't be involved in racing? Not really. Once you get hooked, you get hooked. I always liked the horses and I always liked the training side.  Speaking of family, your older brother Mario drives and your daughter Sara works with you. Is it special to work with people who are close to you? My brother and I always had a close relationship, but we are getting up in age and my brother doesn't drive much anymore. Mario will be 64 in a month. I still use him to qualify horses that are a little difficult. I like to get his expertise. My daughter is a hard worker, but you know it is not always fun when you work with family. Sometimes it is stressful.  Sara recently took some horses and went to the U.S. Did that work out as expected? It didn't work as planned. Some horses didn't do as well as I expected. I don't really know why. A horse like Zig Zag, he was terrible down there. Rhythm In Motion, I thought he was ready to qualify, and I don't know if he didn't like the trip but he was terrible the first time. We had to go back to the drawing board. It was a good experience for her. It could've been better and it could've been worse. At some point do you see Sara taking over your barn or simply branching out on her own? It's up to her. I'm not going anywhere. It is tough for the younger generation to get started now in this business. She owns a few horses with me and a broodmare. She's at the right place right now. I'm sure I will slow down eventually. I run a 40-horse stable mostly. She is very capable and I know I can count on her. I'll always be there for her. In 2020 your barn came out strong after the lockdown. Can we expect similar results this year? We are ready to go. Last year I was very ready. We all qualified the last couple of weeks so I think everyone will probably be on the same page. My horses are ready. The ones that came back from the States, I'm not putting them in right now. I'm going to give them a week off. Maybe last year I came out stronger because I was training hard. There were days when I didn't get done until 1:30 in the afternoon. We had good weather in April and May so we had them all ready. I couldn't do anything wrong after the shutdown ended last year. This business, sometimes you can try everything and nothing works and sometimes you do nothing and everything works. You have 2,424 career training wins. What does that number mean to you? Nothing. I'm not much of a numbers guy. I work and like to make money. Money talks and bullshit walks is my motto. Numbers are ok but I don't really look at them. That's a lot of wins. Do you think it gets you into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame? To me it's a lot of politics and bullshit. The O'Brien awards are the same thing, lots of politics. These things are not important. It is nice when you get recognized but it isn't important.  You drove a bit in the 1980's and won 136 races. Why did you stop driving? My brother was the driver. I never saw myself as a catch-driver. I always liked the training part better. My brother was a hot commodity as a driver.  What is the best advice you've ever gotten about harness racing? Work hard. The more you work at it the better you'll get. My dad was a hard worker and when I used to fight with him I would go to work for Mike Lachance. Two weeks after working with Mike he would tell me, you can go back home now. I was 17 or 18 then.  What was your favorite moment in harness racing? I had so many. Skipper Forrest winning the Monctonian [1990 at New Brunswick Downs] was one of my first big wins. I really liked that horse. I'll always remember my wife was pregnant with Sara back then. I also won the Wellwood twice [Alarm Detector, Hp Royal Theo], once in 1:52 4/5. Those rank pretty high. Which is the best horse you've ever trained? Probably Alarm Detector. He never came back at 3 the way he was supposed to. I thought he would trot in (1:)49. He didn't win in (1:)50 but he did trot that fast. We could never get him as sound as he was as a 2-year-old when he won in 1:52 4/5, which is still a Canadian and track record at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He was a very fast horse.  Which horse is/was your favorite that you've trained? Musical Rhythm. He's retired now and still in my barn. I also have Muscle Matters and Etruscan Hanover. I bought Etruscan Hanover for $12,000 at the Harrisburg sale. He gave me a lot of gray hair but when he was on his game he made us about $400,000. He's a joker that horse. I like to keep them around if I can. Which horse are you most looking forward to racing in 2021? Voelz Delight is one of them. She was a good filly last year. Also the first colt out of my mare Rockin With Dewey. His name is Dealin With Dewey. I qualified him once before the shutdown and I qualified him again last week. He's a 3-year-old this year. We had to quit with him last year because he wasn't perfect but I think he is a nice horse.  Is Dealin With Dewey a Hambletonian horse? No because he isn't eligible. He's a homebred and I gave half to my daughter Sara. I'm excited to race him this year. He has everything you need to be a nice horse. Is there a race you haven't won that you still want to add to your résumé? The Maple Leaf Trot at my home track. I won the elimination with Sakic Seelster [2009] and I've raced a couple of other horses in it.  If you could choose any horse in history to train, which horse would it be and why? Probably Somebeachsomewhere. He was a hell of a horse. If you weren't involved in harness racing, what would you be doing? Probably nothing. Harness racing has been my life. I was hooked from the time I was 8 or 9 years old. My father used to take us to Saratoga in the summer. I was already hooking a horse and racing. As far as what I would've done, I would probably earn a living doing something but what I don't know. The horse business has been very good to me. So you came down from Canada every year to visit Saratoga? My dad had a stable at Saratoga during the summer and another back in Montreal at Blue Bonnets. It was very nice because it is a summer place. He would drop us off at the restaurant and tell us to order food. We had no choice because we didn't know the difference between yes and no. So we had to learn English and we picked it up. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? As I said, I'm not very big into politics. The one thing is transparency. They are trying to do it but not doing enough. Penalties for medication should be stricter. If you get caught doing something you should pay the price. I'd have zero tolerance for things like EPO, and stuff like that. These things just drag on and on. I would change that. How do you view the future of harness racing? There is always going to be horse racing but I'm not sure we are in the right place. I see maybe us maybe with not as much horseracing. A lot of tracks maybe should not be racing in my book.  Time for the stretch drive:  Best Horse You Ever Saw: Somebeachsomewhere. Best Driver in History: John Campbell was probably the best. He was always in the right place at the right moment. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes -- If a horse needs it, they need it. You hurt the horse worse by not using it.  Favorite TV Show?: NCIS. Trotters or Pacers?: Trotters -- They have been my bread and butter.