What kind of car do you drive? Ford F250. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Mom’s spaghetti; pepperoni. What is your favorite track to race at? The Meadowlands. Us Australians have this obsession with The Meadowlands, so to just be able to compete there is a dream come true. You can't top winning a race at The Meadowlands. What is your favorite big event in racing? If the Breeders Crown wasn’t before it is now. How often is racing on your mind? 24/7 - I can’t shut my brain off. It’s a terrible habit I have. I really should be able to go home and not think of the horses for a little while, but I can't. I'm definitely obsessed. What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing? Up until COVID I didn't get to do it a lot, but I love having a sleep-in and a lazy Sunday. Up until March of this year that never happened, which is why I really enjoyed them. It was bad to have that much downtime, but it definitely recharged my batteries and put the fire back in my belly. Now that we are back racing, I don't mind not getting lazy days anymore. What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? I'm not really a big sports watcher. When the Olympics is on every four years I'll go on an Olympics-watching marathon. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I think I'm out in the open with everything that I do. Maybe that I'm an obsessive heart rate and horse weight-taker. They are part of my training program. Do you find that knowing the heart rate and weight is a strong indicator for fitness? I feel like if I didn’t do that I would be training blind. It is definitely a huge part of my training program. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Excitement. How did you get started in the sport? I've always liked horses and racing, admittedly more Thoroughbred racing. My family had to move into state when I was 15 years old and I had to sell my riding horse. We happened to move about a mile from a harness track called Fairfield Trotting Track. As I was quite dejected that I had to sell my riding horse, I went down to the track and the first trainer I ran into, I asked him if I could muck out stalls for free because I was so desperate to be around horses, and the rest is history. So, if your family didn't move, you would not be involved in harness racing? I don't think I would've been involved with harness racing. Maybe I would've had something to do with thoroughbreds or riding horses. I'm glad that it happened, though, because this is definitely my passion. You came to the U.S. in 2009 and started 33 horses as a trainer but left. Why? I was three-quarters of the way through my law degree and that year was kind of like a gap year, but I went back to Australia and my parents were relieved. I finished my law degree and starting practicing as a lawyer. I would always help other trainers on the weekends or had a claimer or something myself that I would do on the mornings before going to work. I was always involved in some way. What made you come back to the States in 2018? I wasn't really happy with the direction that racing was going in Australia and 2009 was probably the best year of my life. I had gone back to training full-time and just decided that the U.S. was my favorite place in the world to race. Probably another Australian thing, we feel like if you make it in the States, you've really made history. The prize money is very good here and there are a lot of opportunities. Things happen in this country. It really is a land of opportunity. I just decided I wanted to give it a go. I was at a turning point in my life where I could continue to be a lawyer or give it a good go and see if I could make this a career, because it is my passion. I’m really glad that it has turned out well so far. Has your current experience met or exceeded expectations? Exceeded - by a thousand. I didn't think I'd be winning stakes races so early on or even win them at all. It's been an amazing ride and I'm so thankful. Are you in the U.S. for good? I hope so. I won a Green Card in the Green Card lottery. I hope COVID doesn’t bugger that up. I'm here on a trading visa now, which isn't a permanent visa so I can't stay here for a long time, but I was hoping that if I became successful enough I could swap for a visa that led to a Green Card and I won one in the lottery. It is my intention to hopefully stay here permanently. I love this country. Do you miss Australia? I miss my family and friends. I guess I love Australia but I don't really miss it. This is my country. I love it. What was your career like in Australia? I had a lot of cheap horses. I mainly dealt with horses between $2,000 and $12,000 claimers. I had a nice horse here or there, but nothing really stakes quality. I sort of cut my teeth on the cheaper horses. Coming over here I always had 12-15 horses over there and I just felt if I came here and had better quality stock that it would pan out, and so far it has been really good. Can you compare the racing in Australia to North America? It is completely different. As part of my business of importing horses, I can sort of pick the horses that I know that will do good over here, but the racing itself is completely different. They stroll around the turns and go slow second quarters. In a half-decent field here you don't get many 30-second quarters. They also have distance races and some stand-start races. I don't think the races over there take as much out of horses as it does here. I used to race some of my horses there between four and six times a month. I aim here for three times a month. You couldn’t race a horse six times a month here. The racing is definitely a lot tougher on them. It is not really comparable but they are both enjoyable in their own ways. What is the best advice you've ever gotten about harness racing? Ross Croghan told me, a healthy, happy and sound horse will do its best. I'm really big into the whole equine psychology of it. It is really important to me that my horses are happy. I think a happy horse is the biggest edge you can get. What was your favorite moment in harness racing? Winning the Breeders Crown (Dancin Lou, 2019). If I would die and go to heaven, I’d die the happiest girl in the world. That was just incredible. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up right now just talking about it. That was the best night of my life for sure. Is it safe to say that Dancin Lou is the best horse you ever trained? Yes, by leaps and bounds. Dancin Lou seems to be capable of roughing it at any speed and still finding more in the stretch. Can you talk about his determination and heart? I've thought about this a lot because most horses can't do what he can do. In Australia, I traveled a little bit with a world champion true miler called Flashing Red. That horse had two world records and five track records. His biggest asset was a low heart rate and I haven't come across a horse with a heart rate like his until 'Lou' came along. I think when they go to the half in 52 or 53 and he does it so comfortably, I don't think he is at his maximum heart rate yet while other horses are. I think that is why he is still able to still sprint at the finish because he hasn't had to go his maximum effort earlier in the race. He's just an amazing athlete. What is next for Dancin Lou? Sam McKee on Hambletonian Day. Would it be an extra-special thrill to win on Hambletonian Day? I'd say so. It is such a great day in harness racing. Just to have a horse in a race that day is special. How many horses are in your barn? At the moment I’m down to six and hoping for more. Are you hoping that your success with Dancin Lou leads to a bigger stable? I hope so. I don't think I could ever be someone that has 50 or 60 horses. I'm very hands-on. I'm a little bit of a control freak. But I definitely want more horses. I'm hoping if 'Lou' continues on his winning ways that there are owners out there who will give me a shot. I go about doing things differently and I think it might help some horses here. Which horse is/was your favorite? There are two. Back in 2009 I had a horse called Melton Multimax. He came over here to the States. He was a great trier. He wasn't a superstar. He was just a 40 or 50 claimer. I made so many mistakes with him and he always put in 100 percent in his races. He's probably my favorite. I have another one now who I have a real soft spot for. He actually won last week at The Meadowlands and his name is Statement Made. He's a beautiful horse and lovely to drive. He’s really fast, too. I just really click with him. I love him. What's the one race that you really want to win in your career? It was the Breeders Crown but since I have won that now, the next one would be the Little Brown Jug. Do you have any Little Brown Jug prospects? Not at the moment, but I'm always looking. I actually have a mare and she flies around a half. Her mother was a Horse of the Year in my state as a broodmare, so for Australian standards she is very well-bred. If I'm not given a Jug-caliber horse, I'm going to breed one. So I've got a back-up plan just in case. If you could choose any horse in history to train, which horse would it be and why? I reckon it would be a toss-up between Dan Patch and Cardigan Bay. Those horses were just out and out champions. They were so ahead of their time. It would be great to be involved with horses like that. How has COVID-19 affected your life and business? I've been fortunate that my owners are in a position to continue to pay training fees while the horses weren't racing. Fortunately for me it wasn't as bad as other people, but the whole mental aspect had me down, not knowing when we would be able to race. Being a foreign person, I don't get any assistance from the government, so the mental stress was making a dent. It didn't really affect my business, but it was mentally a tough few months, also with being under a lockdown in this country and not knowing if there was an emergency whether I could go back to Australia. That's over and done with now. I'm glad that we are back racing, even if we have to wear masks. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? It would be in Australia to allow Lasix. They don't go quite as fast as here yet, but it will happen. As someone who has raced in both jurisdictions, northern and southern hemisphere, I think it is a horse welfare thing. I know they are trying to scale it back here, but unless they change the style of racing and the drivers aren't all-out every race here, it really is needed for their welfare. How do you view the future of harness racing? A lot of people are doom and gloom about it, but I don't think it is as bad as people make out, especially here in the states. It has a rich history and I think it will continue to be around for a long time. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse Performance You Ever Saw: Probably Blacks A Fake 4th Inter Dominion win. He was a very hard-to-beat Australian horse. Best Driver Ever: John Campbell Favorite TV Show?: Spartacus Trotters or Pacers?: Pacers. I don't know much about trotters. I can count on one hand how many times I've sat behind a trotter. I would like to learn. It will likely be on one I own because I don't think it is right to have someone pay a training bill as I learn.