What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Tahoe. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Sushi. Some people may find that strange since I'm from Guatemala, but I love it, specifically Sashimi. For snack Pistachios. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? I love to race at Yonkers because of the money, but also because you really have to have the right horse to fit the track. You can have the best horse in the world but if they can't get around Yonkers they won't do well. I've won a lot of races at Yonkers the last 10 years. What is your favorite big event in racing?  Little Brown Jug. How often are horses or racing on your mind? All day long. I get up with horses on my mind and go to bed thinking about them. I watch every horse that I train, race. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I don't do much of anything other than horses, especially in the summer when all the tracks are open and we are always racing. It is the only thing I do, which is one of the reasons why I have to quit. Next year is my last year training horses and then I'm done. I'm going to be 60 next year. It has been a good business and job, but it is stressful, especially for a guy like me since I own almost everything I train with the exception of one partner [Barbara Arnstine] that has been with me for over 30 years. I'm just getting old and tired of it. It's time to give opportunity to the young people to do it. What will happen to your horses when you retire? I have two sons [Joshua and Gilbert Garcia-Owen] that will likely race 10 to 15 horses, but it is up to them. I've given them the knowledge that I have and they must make their choices. The rest of the horses will be for sale.  What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? Basketball -- Los Angeles Lakers. I got into the Lakers because I was friends with owner Jimmy Buss. We used to go to games with him. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? That I come from Guatemala. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? My life. How did you get started in Harness Racing? A friend of mine introduced me to it at Hollywood Park in 1981. I started as a groom but very soon I learned that you have to own to make money. I bought my first horse (Randani) for $700.  After coming here in 1980 you mentioned in other articles that you learned a lot from trainer Joe Anderson. What did he teach you? He was my mentor. I was a groom for him but he knew I was ambitious and eventually moved me to second trainer. I learned how he trained and then we went separate ways. I made adjustments to my training regimen and I've been doing it ever since.  ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter What is the best advice you can give someone about harness racing? Do your own thing and don't worry about what others are doing. You tend to give your horses time off in December and January. Do you go on vacation? Chester [Harrah's Philadelphia] is closed part of December and all of January, Pocono is closed both months and at Yonkers it is very tough to get in during that time because there are so many horses. The first couple of years training in the east, I got my horses ready and they didn't get in, so I decided it made sense to give them two months off so they can be fresh for February and March when the tracks all open. What was your best moment in harness racing? Winning the Clash of the Pacific in British Columbia at Fraser Downs. That was the biggest purse race I ever won as a trainer and driver. When and why did you come east to compete? 2010. The money in California wasn't enough and there wasn't enough racing days to stick it out. Everyone really needed to find a new place to race except the diehards that are still racing there. You've been one of the top trainers in the sport while competing at Yonkers and Pennsylvania for the last decade. Did you expect that type of success when you came east? Not really. There are a lot of good trainers here and it was scary for me, but when we come here from California where we are racing for no money, we are hungry and willing to work hard. I didn't expect to have this much success but I knew I could compete because my friend Louie [Pena] was here and doing well.  Is your connection to Lou Pena a good thing? I got kicked out of The Meadowlands just because I was a friend of Louie. When I moved here to the east, the only person I knew was Louie, so I came to his house and stayed with him for a couple of months. Everybody thought I was working for Louie but I wasn't. He was just my friend.  When it comes to horse trainers, I'd put Louie up against anybody, one horse to one horse. You can give Ron Burke two horses and give Louie one and see who will come out on top. He is a good horseman. He knows what to do. He can put shoes on a horse. He can figure out where horses are lame and how to make them go.  You have no major infractions on your record in the last four years and everything in the last 15 years have been a class 4 or lesser violation. Does it bother you to not be allowed at The Meadowlands? Not at all. I am happy that I kicked out of The Meadowlands because otherwise my horses would never get a rest and I would never get a rest. Instead of giving them two months off we would be racing at The Meadowlands. Jeff [Gural] told people it was because I'm Louie's beard. I'm nobody's beard. I've been my own man for a long time and if people don't believe it they can check my bank account and the property I own. If someone can be a beard and own as much as I own, my hat is off to them. You have over 3,600 career training wins. What does that number mean to you? That is a pretty big number for a guy from Guatemala. People see my name on the program and think I just showed up out of nowhere and won a lot of races, but they don't realize my dad owned a big farm in Guatemala and we raced cows, mules and horses. I know horses inside-out since I was a kid. I never owned a bicycle or motorcycle when I was a kid, I had a horse. I rode a horse wherever I went when I was a kid. When I came here to train horses, for me I was like a frog in a pond. That is what people don't understand about my success, but it is ok because they don't know I was born on a farm and not in a city.  Do you think people realize you are 10th all-time in career wins for training? Wow! I didn't even know that. Who are the first nine? Maybe I should stick around another year and try to move up the list. Similarly, do you think fans/bettors know you have 1,821 driving wins? Nobody knows. In Pennsylvania now George Nap [Napolitano] drives my horses and the first couple of years George Brennan drove them. I hardly go to the track, so my grooms that go ask me 'Do you want me to tell something to George?' I always say no because I drove horses and I never wanted anyone to tell me what to do during the races. As soon as you are behind the gate something can happen and the plan can go right up in the air. Then what are you going to do? It is unfair for the trainer to tell the driver how to drive the horse because anything can happen behind the gate. When I drove it was for two or three guys. I was never a catch-driver because I don't like people telling me what I should do. If they put me down to ride a horse, I assume they know I will make the best decision I can make at the time. You said you barely go to the track. Is that because you are too busy training the horses? Yes. Right now we have 50 horses but in years' past I had 60 or 75. It is hard to go to the track. If you have good help and good drivers, you don't have to go to the track.  Why did you stop driving in 2010? You can't do both here. You could do it in California or Indiana when you are stabled at the track but here you can't. If I had to drive every night at Yonkers, I'd get home at 1am and then have to get up at 5am to train. I would not be able to function.   If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I'd like to see everybody treated equally. Some people get positive tests and it gets washed under the rug. A lot of people get high tests and they just forget about it. That disappoints me. Everyone should get the same penalty all the time. Some people get an appeal and work under the appeal for years. That's stupid. Some people make mistakes and some people do things on purpose, and I'm guilty too, just pay the price and move on. You know if you give something to a horse and the rules. You know that potentially you can get caught. Be a big man and pay the price . . . I had a couple of positives for Robaxin [April & May 2014]. I had two in one year. They gave me 15 days and I took it. I went to Boston for a week and took a little vacation since I couldn't be at the farm.  How do you view the future of harness racing? I'm afraid for the young people that come into the sport with all the casinos trying to push the horses out of the situation, but I honestly don't have enough knowledge to provide a good opinion.  If you weren't involved in harness racing, what would you be doing? I'd probably own a restaurant or two. I like to eat and cook. Do you have any regrets from your time in the sport? No regrets. It has been a great run and I've met a lot of good people, and the ones you don't really like, you don't have to talk to them (laughing). Time for the stretch drive.  Best Horse you ever saw: Somebeachsomewhere. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes, I'm all in. Almost every horse I race is on Lasix. I've been saying this for many years . . . one of these days they will take Lasix away and everyone will be crying about it. It is a shame because a lot of horses really need Lasix.  Favorite TV Show?: Two and a Half Men. Trotters or Pacers?: I love trotters. Lately it is different, but when I was in California I won more races with trotters than pacers. Right now I only have three or four trotters in my barn. It has been hard to get trotters.