Jay Hochstetler is climbing the harness racing ladder in a hurry. Since starting a full-time barn in 2021 the 31-year-old trainer has seen his stable increase its earnings by a substantial amount. In 2023 that total was $1,536,528 and got home “Rising Star” honors from the United States Harness Writer’s Association. Based in Indiana at Hoosier Park, Hochstetler has branched out on the Grand Circuit recently with horses like Ponda Warrior and Ponda Jet. While he races nearly five days a week at this time of the year, the opinionated Illinois native found some time to discuss his time in the sport and much more. Enjoy! How did you get started in harness racing? I’m a fourth generation horseman so I was born into it, but I didn’t really get into it until I was 15 or 16; I was more worried about sports before then. I started to help my dad out at the barn and it took off from there. With such a strong family involvement, was there ever a chance you wouldn’t be involved in the sport? Oh yeah. I went to college and I started in economics and thought about it. I did well in school but I’d come home every summer and got closer and closer to [harness racing] so I decided to stick with it. Your dad Homer has almost 1,500 driving wins and well over 2,000 as a trainer. Can you talk about what you’ve learned from him? He’s my mentor in just about everything. I’m very fortunate to have him. He’s an excellent horseman. He’s got decades of experience and the success to go along with it. You are now in your fourth full year of training and last year won the Rising Star award from USHWA. Is your career progressing as you expected? Last year was definitely a bit of a shock. We’ve done well but last year was above my expectations. I’d like to replicate last year but it will be tough. I think we have some good horses this year. I’d say I’ve exceeded where I expected to be at this point. Where are you stabled and how many horses do you have? I’m stabled right at Hoosier Park and we have 25 horses. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? The Red Mile. I went down there every year as a kid because my mom [Connie] works down there and it is the best surface for the horse. I love the atmosphere. It is just special. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I’m a pretty big sports guy, especially soccer and basketball. I also play video games to get my mind off of the races at night. I read that you are a Chicago Bulls and a New York Yankees fan. How does that happen? I’ve started to really get into the [Indiana] Pacers since I live here and get to go to the games now at affordable prices. I grew up in Chicago, so I have a natural tendency to root for some Chicago teams. The reason I ended up with the Yankees is because George Steinbrenner owned Balmoral Park, so when they were winning the World Series I always got free hats when I was 6, 7, 8 years old and started to root for them. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? I was a very, very good volleyball player. I played all through high school and was all-conference there. There are not a lot of scholarship teams for men’s volleyball but I played for the club at University of Kentucky and made the all-national team in my senior year in Kentucky. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Pressure, but it is a good thing. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten or given about harness racing? My dad stresses to keep it simple. People want to throw a ton of equipment [at a problem] and make changes when the slightest thing is wrong but sometimes you just have to let a horse work through it. What was your best moment in harness racing? Definitely winning the Dan Patch [2023 with Ponda Warrior]. I’ve watched that replay enough to make me sick, but it doesn’t get old. Which is the best horse you’ve ever trained? Ponda Warrior, no doubt. According to my research you were the 2009 Illinois Amateur Driver of the Year. Why didn’t you pursue driving? I went to college, so I couldn’t consistently drive all the time. By the time I was 18 we had a stakes barn, so they really didn’t have horses for me to learn on and get good at it. I think I get way too anxious and I don’t have the mindset for it. I found that I was much better at training than driving. You did quite a bit of writing for Horseman & Fair World years ago. Do you miss that aspect of the sport? I still write an article once a month for the Midwest Harness Report. That is enough to give me my fill of doing it. I do miss it. I loved working for Kathy [Parker] and Gordon [Waterstone]. They taught me so much about not only writing but in terms of the business. There were times I thought that was the path I should go down, doing that alone. I’m happy I still get to dabble in it. On social media you tend to be vocal and it gets you in trouble at times. Is it hard to keep your opinion to yourself? I think I’m getting better than I used to be. I liked to argue every chance I got, especially when I was younger. I’ve learned to pick my battles as I’ve gotten a little older. Do you see Ponda Jet as the type of horse that can keep getting better and move to that next level? I do because he’s a horse that has taken a lot of mental growth. He’s had the physical tools most of his life and every couple of months he seems to get a little bit smarter and easier to drive. Him being able to sit in holes now is something he couldn’t do at 2 and hardly could do as a 3-year-old. He’s a lot handier of a horse now. All things considered he is moving in the right direction, and you have to be able to do that as a Grand Circuit horse. What will we see from 2024 Dan Patch winner Ponda Warrior this year? I’m hoping to race him this week at Hoosier. He’s eligible to the Haughton at The Meadowlands. If he puts in a strong performance I’ll probably send him out for that. Besides that he has Grand Circuit races at Hoosier, the Canadian Pacing Derby and the Breeders Crown. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Ponda Warrior ended up finishing third on July 5, timed in 1:50 3/5. He is not in the Haughton.] Where is last year’s Indiana champion 2-year-old filly trotter Ponda Title? She had a brutally unlucky injury. I don’t even know if you can call it an injury. She has a genetic spine condition that basically made her untrainable, so she is already bred to Temporal Hanover. They said she’s always had it but there were no symptoms until this winter. What’s the deal with the “Ponda” name? Where did it come from? That is from the Ponda Acres farm. They name all of their horses with Ponda and I’ve just been fortunate to buy a lot of good horses from them. The first one we bought was Ponda Warrior. They raise really nice horses and have good mares. I just buy from them. I’ve never trained for them or anything like that. I’ve become friends with them because I’ve bought a bunch and done well for their broodmares. It has just been good luck. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I’ve had one on my mind the last couple of days that sticks out a lot. I think one of the best things we could do is to find a different avenue for our broadcasting and get rid of Roberts. I think we spend a lot of money with them and don’t get a good enough return on the quality and accessibility of our signals. I did see you complaining on X about not being able to see some races in HD. Is that a big problem? On my TV apps it is very spotty and their website is caveman quality. They don’t even have a phone app. You have to go through their website with a browser and if you go off you have to log back in every time. All of these tracks have converted to HD and I don’t think they are getting their bang for the buck for it. How do you view the future of harness racing? I think it is going to be regional and some places will falter and others will succeed; we are already seeing that. The reason that we’ve struggled over the last few decades is that we’ve been happy to stay in the status quo and eventually when you do that long enough it hurts you. It might be that some regions have to change. As a younger person involved in the sport, how do we increase that type of audience? It’s tough. I think the pari-mutuel model is the superior way to gamble, as a person who also does sports gambling too, but sports betting has done a much better job of marketing the ability to gamble on it and do well. What role does your wife Amy play in the Hochstetler organization? She’s a veterinarian. Her primary practice is Thoroughbreds in Shelbyville at Horseshoe Indianapolis but she still moonlights as my veterinarian half the week and I’m very fortunate to have a person that cares as much as I do about my horses to provide ideas on how to help them. What does a day in the life of Jay Hochstetler look like? I’m at Hoosier Park all morning until we feed lunch around noon, training all the horses and taking care of them. I have a farm about 20 minutes from the racetrack and I fiddle around there most of the afternoon. We race five days a week here, so it is right back in the thick of it by six o’clock at night. Time for the stretch drive. Best Horse you ever saw:  Muscle Hill. Lasix – Yes or No: Yes, until they provide a suitable alternative. Favorite TV Show: Peaky Blinders. Trotters or Pacers:  Trotters.