What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Ram 1500. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Chicken Scarpariello Country Style; Pizza What is your favorite track to visit? Why? The Delaware Fairgrounds because it reminds me of the way racing used to be. What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? The Breeders Crown because it is great to see the best of the best racing each other. How often are horses or racing on your mind? 24/7. How did you get started in harness racing? My Dad went to Roosevelt/Yonkers every night and said I could go with him if I got good grades in school. So, I got good grades and have been going to the track since I was 10 years old. What made you decide to hop in the bike as an amateur driver? Because I starting going to the track at an early age. All the other kids wanted to be Mickey Mantle. I wanted to be Carmine Abbatiello. So as an adult, I took it upon myself to get educated about the business and learn how to drive. If harness racing is your hobby, what is your day job? Flight Attendant for Jetblue Airways. What is your favorite hobby outside of harness racing? Watching my daughter Kristina Verruso play College Softball. You have averaged over 40 starts a year as an amateur, what keeps you coming back for more? There is no thrill like competing in a race and knowing or hoping I can make enough of a difference to help that horse win. And if I can, to then be acknowledged by real everyday horsemen as a competent driver. In 2021 you've ramped things up to a new level with a by-far career high of 19 wins in 61 starts. What changed? Well two things. First, believe it or not, helping my daughter with her hitting in softball has helped a lot. I always tell her to be calmer at the plate and how the best players are successful because they are able to slow the game down. I started to realize that was a lesson I needed to heed on the track; be more observant of what is going on in the race around me and reacting to that, not having a set game plan and just sticking to it.  Second, last year I saw a much greater success with my refined patience on the track. Then this year I teamed up with Symon Spicer who had just started training his own stable and we seem to have hit it off pretty well. The stable run by he and his wife Veronica is growing really fast and that has given me the opportunity to drive a wider variety of horses and good ones. Symon can be delusional at times and thinks I should be the inaugural member of the Amateur Hall of Fame. And even though I think he's nuts, hopefully he doesn't come to his senses anytime soon and keeps putting me up on his horses! On November 5 at The Meadowlands you notched win No. 100 of your career. What did that moment mean to you? It was very special in a few ways. It was great my family was there, because they support me and my driving 100%. Without them, I certainly could not have achieved this milestone. But it also gives me a little solace that maybe I am the type of driver a good trainer would trust with their horse in an amateur race. I learned a lot from Harold Kelly and I am honored every time I put on my driving suit that he thought it was a good idea for me to wear his colors. Harold may not have been the winningest driver in the country, but everyone thought of him as an excellent horseman. If you were bringing a trotter to Freehold and needed a good trot driver, he was the guy you picked. To me being acknowledged in that way by your peers is more of an achievement than winning a thousand races.  ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Some people have argued that a driver with 877 career starts or a full-time trainer shouldn't be an amateur. Thoughts? What people don't understand is that amateur, does not mean novice. Amateur means none of us make a living or get paid by a third party for driving; kind of how the Olympics used to be years ago. Pro athletes couldn't compete but it didn't mean seasoned athletes were to be excluded. Obviously, the more veteran guys might have an advantage over some of the newer drivers, but it doesn't take long for them to figure it out. And as for trainers driving in the amateur races, I know a bunch of great trainers who are not so great drivers. They probably have an advantage in the fact that they work with the horses daily and are more comfortable with them than say someone like me, but that doesn't always translate into winning.  What is your favorite sport to watch? Team? Baseball is my favorite sport to watch and I am a huge Yankee fan. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I guess that because I grew up in the city, I never meaningfully touched a horse until I was about 34 years old. I actually live in the same house that I have lived in my entire life. I have never moved. I think that's pretty cool. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Exhilarating. What is the best advice you've ever gotten or given about harness racing? It was imparted to me early on that the horses are not machines and have to be taken care of not only at the farm by their trainers, but also on the track by the driver. If you push them all-out every week, they just will not last.  And being I run two amateur clubs now, I mostly try to impart on the newer members to not get discouraged quickly. I am a testament to the fact that if you keep at it, you will get better. My early years were not even close to successful, but I learned a lot along the way from many people in the game and I try to use all of that knowledge now to make myself a better driver each and every race. Another excellent amateur driver Todd Whitney jokingly asked me how many times I had watched the replays of wins 100 and 101. I told him I watched them a couple of times but I watched the next two races from that night which I lost many more times, because I see things in both those starts that I absolutely could have done better and hopefully will get right the next time I go out to race. What was your best moment in harness racing? That answer is twofold. When I was just starting, I was helping at the barn of Howard Beal and Harold Kelly and they were teaching me things as I went along, but up until a certain point was only allowed to jog horses. One day Howard told me to take the horse to the top of the stretch at Showplace Farms, turn him and brush him down the lane to the wire. Well, when I turned that horse and he swelled up and took off, I was hooked for good.  But of course, winning my first race, at Goshen Historic Track no less, with my horse From One To Sixty was probably the topper. How many horses do you currently own? I have two currently racing, a baby just starting to be trained and a broodmare. Would you own horses if it wasn't for amateur racing? Probably not. Maybe just one to have an interest, but I'm not certain I would own any if I wasn't driving. Which is the best horse you've ever owned or driven? The best horse I have ever owned is the now my broodmare Sam's Honeybee. She was as tough a racehorse as you could want. She loved coming first-up and if she was anywhere near the leaders at the top of the stretch, she knew how to win. The late Carl Gillespie and Betsy Phillips did a great job with her. According to the USTA you are President of the American Harness Drivers Club and Delvin Miller Amateur Drivers' Association. Is that a lot of responsibility? It is a great deal of responsibility. Our goal is to have fun as drivers, but we also try to be ambassadors of the sport. We try and open up doors for owners and the like to know they too can race or at least jog and be involved with their horses. We also try and promote safety within our ranks and the sport. One of our other important objectives is to support horse charities and the like. Both of my clubs donate to the Hall of Fame in Goshen and to organizations in the horse retirement field. It is important for these horses to have a safe and happy life after racing if at all possible and I am glad to be helping in that regard. What's the easiest way for someone to get started as an amateur? The USTA has a driving school each year and that is a great way to get started. The other option would be to ask someone like me to possibly get them hooked up with a trainer in their area who could teach them the basics and maybe get them on the track jogging. I was told you learn from the ground up. There are no shortcuts. Muck the stall, learn how to care for the horse and put on the equipment, then start to jog and maybe go further. It seems many of the drivers are friends off the track but in a race it can be cutthroat. Does killer instinct take over? Well, I don't know if killer instinct is the correct term, but you must realize that most of us drive once or twice a week. So, every time out there is special and we all want to win because those wins can be few and far between. Well, that lends to being ungracious when you are on the front end and not being overly eager to give anyone a tuck. When you don't drive a lot, each race is the Super Bowl and we drive that way. Skills aside, could you say that amateur races are the purest form of driving in that the sole objective of everyone is always to win? I would hope that the sole objective in every race, amateur or not, is to win. That being said, I think the last question is more of an answer as why it appears to be a purer race. We don't give tucks very easily and there is very little 'give and gos' on the front-end, but we also don't drive against each other 12 times a night, which can make for tough relationships if you play hard ball in each and every race. And that also goes back to the lesson of taking care of the horse every once in a while. You can't press them for their maximum effort each week. There have to be some weeks where yes, you still are trying to win but not choosing the toughest journey for that week. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I think they should eliminate qualifying races. I believe in Europe horses have to qualify to initially race and then never have to qualify again. Qualifying is an undue burden on the owners and trainers that is just not necessary. Thoroughbreds don't qualify. If the horse doesn't race well the people won't bet on them. I think it would be the same for harness racing bettors. They are smart enough to know whether to bet a horse or not. The qualifier has become passé.  How do you view the future of harness racing? Very cautiously. I hear all the time that we need to get young people to attend the races but I rarely see things done to accomplish this. I don't think the racing can be the only attraction to get people to show up. Maybe food trucks, music, dancing, games . . . any combination of things with the races mixed in to try and make it an enjoyable night for all. Obviously, this can't be done every night, but certainly on weekends and during good weather it is worth trying. And I do know none of those things are the end-all answers, but we have to try something, because without new fans the sport will not survive. What is your biggest disappointment with the sport? Not getting the fans more in touch with the horses. I know it is a pain in the neck, but getting the people around the horses either with open paddocks or letting them in the paddock in a controlled way is certainly a way to increase interest in the sport. The horse is our best selling point and we don't use them that way. Time for the stretch drive.  Best Horse you ever saw: Niatross. Best Driver: Carmine Abbatiello. Best Amateur Driver: Me of course. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes, but should be allowed to be administered on the farm. Favorite TV Show?: Odd Couple/Honeymooners, I'm an old soul. If you mean currently, Yellowstone is excellent. Trotters or Pacers?: Trotters 100%