Takter, Alagna, Burke. Those are the last names you read about all the time. The stars of our sport, often with dozens of horses spread among a plethora of tracks, with a battalion of caretakers, second trainers, "riders" and even stall cleaners affiliated with their stables. As successful as the above trio are, they are not the key to our sport's success. For as long as harness racing has existed, the little guy has been the backbone of the sport. The pet shop owner with a couple horses who jogs before putting in his 50-hour week. The accountant with nothing but homebreds who jogs after work but has to hire somebody from March 1 to April 15. Or the school teacher who is also a fourth-generation horseman. That fourth-generation horseman/school teacher is Tyler Bates. After 32 years teaching high school chemistry and physics at Lake High School in Ohio, he retired to devote his full attention to training horses, only to jump back in when Fremont Ross High needed a science teacher. He has been back teaching two years there and is preparing to retire yet again. With his school schedule, he has pretty much always raced at the fairs. "When I started teaching, I was coaching basketball and track. I had 12-13 horses. I had kids and went back to the fairs with 2 and 3-year-olds. So now I can race a little more with the kids grown up. The last 10 years, it's mostly colts at the fairs," said Bates. While his kids jogged and helped when they were younger, they are now pretty spread out. "My daughter teaches English in Japan, my one son is in New York City, the other in Indiana," continued Bates. "Having the farm kept the family together. I would do a bit in the morning, then come home and finish up." Bates' farm has a .43-mile track with half-mile turns, which makes it a tough to accurately gauge how his young charges are coming along (Full disclosure: I own 3% of a Bates-trained 2-year-old pacing filly). "When Raceway Park was open, we would ship there to train . . . the miles on the farm track, if we can get them going in 2:10, 2:15, that's a pretty good mile. Now we have to ship them or matinee them to get them used to the gate and being racehorses," said Bates. Bates remembers sitting on his dad's lap at age 6 or so, and he has always wanted to be a trainer. "I have wanted to do this my whole life. It is in my family. Dad trained. My grandpa was killed going over the hubrail at the Converse (IN) fair. My dad said get a college education. A big part of becoming a teacher was having my summers free so I could work with the horses." The 57-year-old has had some good horses during a career that has seen him train 285 winners in 2,288 career starts (since the USTA starting keeping records in 1991). "We had Wiggler who did pretty well in the Sires Stakes. We sold her and she won the consolation," said Bates. "Valparaiso Hanover was a good one. Back in '87 I got one ready for dad -- Windswept Song. He beat Quite A Sensation in the Sires final at 4. He was the best we have had, probably. I was pretty young. He got bought for $400. You don't compete at the top level of Ohio at that price. We also had Cam Yankee who paced in (1:)54 and a piece at Raceway Park. We just keep looking for the next one." This year, Bates has 13 2-year-year-olds and four 3-year-olds. All are Ohio-breds except one Andover Hall trotting filly he hopes to send east for the summer. That is more than he usually has. "I've always had a few pay horses. Most of the time I own part of them," said Bates. "We spent more money this year than we ever spent. Usually it is the $5-7k yearlings. I think we have five in our barn we don't own part of." Part of the reason for the upgrade this year is Bates' friend John Cahill, a long-time racing fan who has trained a few and owned several over the years. Cahill is a well-respected Ohio basketball coach whose daughter Amanda plays professionally in Europe. He put together Cedar Point Beach Racing, a fractional ownership group that has three Ohio-breds with Bates. "There was no question that we would go with Ty. He's an honest guy. A great guy. He uses his teaching background to be patient with the young horses. He helped me a lot when I tried training horses," Cahill explained. OHHA rep Amy Hollar, who knew Bates in his Raceway Park days, agreed, "He's a good, hard-working guy. I've known him for 30 years. He has juggled horses, teaching and coaching with equal passion." "It's different, having all these investors" said Bates. "There are people at the farm watching the horses every weekend. I like it. It's good. When I was a kid, everybody grew up with a horse . . . behind a plow, or on the farm. It was really natural. The sport promoted itself. This does the same thing. And what the Ohio Harness Horseman's Association (OHHA) is doing [county fair and matinee broadcasts, outreach at events, making wraps available for trailers] is really cool. Bringing it to the people, back to some of our history. That is important." But it can be a grind admits Bates. "I have one guy, Jeff Millhime, who comes in in the morning and feeds and does stalls. And most of my owners are pretty active and can help with jogging if I need it. But we have to ship for everything -- vet, fast training miles. Last week I had four at the matinee and it was just me. I have been doing this for 34 years." Tyler Bates is one of the hundreds of "little guys" who are the backbone of the business. We need all of them. That's it for this month. Now go cash. Maybe on Cedar Point Beach or Cobra Kai Johnny, a couple Bates trainees.