A third generation horseman, John DeLong has been around horses his entire life. Hailing from Wisconsin, the DeLong family is part of the State's Hall of Fame, though John now resides in Indiana and makes a fine living as one of the top catch-drivers at Hoosier Park. Since becoming a regular in 2008, John DeLong has steadily improved his craft and has been over the $3 million mark in horse earnings every year since 2016. Along with his wife Tabatha, they train a stable of 12-15 horses at their training center in the Hoosier state. John took a few minutes away from working on the track at his training center to discuss his journey in the sport and the industry as a whole. Enjoy! How did you get started in harness racing? I'm a third generation horseman. My Grandfather [Bill] was involved and my dad [Jesse] still has a stable of horses. My grandfather passed away when I was a couple of years old but he started out with Tennessee walking horses, I believe. Then he raced at county fairs and it snowballed from there. I think in the late 1960's he got into Standardbreds and in the 80's my dad got into it. It was a hobby at first and became a career. Was there ever a chance you wouldn't be involved in Harness Racing? I wanted to be a vet when I graduated high school. I definitely wanted to work with horses. I just didn't like school. I did one semester at college, came home at Christmas break and said I'm not going back. My dad said if you aren't going to school you have to work, so he gave me a stable of horses and said 'get to work.' I graduated in 2007 so it was somewhere around there.  You were involved in harness racing before 2007, though, right? I drove a couple of summers at county fairs. I think I got my license in 2005. We always had a big barn of horses and my dad and my uncle Bo. We raced a lot at the fairs when I was younger. Your family is from Wisconsin. Was that a hotbed for the sport at one time? Our farm at home in Wisconsin is only an hour-and-a-half from the extinct Maywood Park, it's an Amazon warehouse now, unfortunately. We were two hours from Balmoral and a half-hour or so to Hawthorne. Several people have come out of Wisconsin to race horses. My man Dave Magee is from there. He's probably the most famous. It was kind of a suburb of Chicago in its heyday. Our farm was only 10 minutes from Del Insko's farm in Illinois.  You live in Indiana now though as a Hoosier Park regular, right? I moved to Indiana in 2015 or 2016 when Homicide Hunter was a 3-year-old and decided to give it a shot. Everything worked out. Do you have an immediate family? My wife is Tabatha and we have two daughters, Jessica and Allison. We have a 35-acre training center in Indiana. I'm a farm kid at heart. Who trains at your training center? My wife and I train there as well as Trent Stohler. We have a decent-sized stable; 12-15 horses. My wife is listed as trainer. She's the boss. What kind of car do you drive? I just got a 2021 GMC Sierra. Favorite dinner meal? Snack? Filet and baked potato; Beef Jerky or trail mix. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? It's changed over the years because it used to be one of the tracks in Chicago. I would say Hoosier now because I'm successful there. What is your favorite big event in racing? Probably the Breeders Crown since I've been able to experience it a couple of times at Hoosier Park. How often are horses or racing on your mind? I try to turn it off some but when I'm awake this is my life. I'm either working on the farm or in the barn or jogging a horse or training or racing at night.  What is your favorite thing to do outside of racing? Hang out with my family or go golfing when I have time. What is your favorite sport? Team? Football; Dallas Cowboys. I'm not really a Dak Prescott fan so I'm really happy with the guy we got in there right now. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? A lot of people don't know that I'm from Wisconsin, a state that doesn't have pari-mutuel wagering or anything like that. It is hard for a person to maybe make it at my level coming from there.  What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Thrilling. You have around 3,400 driving wins. What does that number mean to you? It means a lot because I came from a place where a small percentage of people probably make it. I started at the county fairs and never dreamed I'd win that many races. I thought it was a big thing to win 1,000 races and now I'm a year or so away from 4,000.  You had what looks like a career year on paper in 2021. Is that due to your improvement as a driver or the strong Indiana program? Obviously I have gotten better over the last handful of years. When you are going against better drivers and get better horses you improve. I'm getting better horses to drive all the time. When you are going good you get better ones. Obviously Trace [Tetrick] gets the top horses but I think I do pretty good with what I get after that. Is there a race you are hoping to win in your career? I'm a trotting person so the Hambletonian would be something, but I'm going to have to find a pretty good horse to get to that level. What was your best moment in harness racing? Seventimesavirgin going undefeated in the Indiana Sire Stakes [2016] as a 3-year-old. That was probably my proudest moment. I put a lot of hard work into her. I just broke her first foal, so that is exciting too. You've been the leading driver at Running Aces in the past, no? That was kind of my first summer on my own in 2008. It was the first year they were open. The trophy is on the wall but it has been a while since I got one of those [laughing]. I'm happy just making a living and doing what I've been doing here the last 10 years or so. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Which is/was the best horse you've ever driven? Bulldog Hanover. They brought him down to Hoosier last year for four stakes races and Jack contacted me. Hollywood Heyden told me that I'm the only person to have driven the fastest pacer and fastest trotter in history, Bulldog Hanover and Homicide Hunter, who won in 1:48 4/5 at Red Mile.  Which is/was your favorite horse to drive? Seventimesavirgin. She just had a will to win. Not that Bulldog Hanover doesn't, but I didn't get to campaign him like I did her.  If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? Rules and regulations across jurisdictions. There has to be a way in 2022, and I know it will probably never happen because every state has its own rules, but having set rules would make a trainer's job a lot easier. You go to certain places and you have to search to find the rules. I think we are getting a bit closer with the medication rules in the Midwest anyway. In the NFL the rules aren't any different in New York at Giants Stadium than in California. In harness racing they are. There has to be a way to make it more uniform. How do you view the future of harness racing? I'm optimistic. I think we are doing a pretty good job. I'm not crazy about being a casino-driven industry, but that is where our purses come from. Our sport is healthy. You look at the yearling prices and what some of our stakes are going for and it seems our industry is healthy.  Time for the stretch drive: Best horse you ever saw: Unfortunately he lost. I still remember the first time I drove Bulldog Hanover. He won in 1:48 in a hurricane, it was pouring rain at Hoosier that night. It was a feeling I had never felt before. Just the raw power that he has is incredible. He is like driving a sports car. I was literally pinned in the seat when he took off. I was speechless after the race and I think I said something like 'what planet is this horse from because he is not normal.' It was a feeling I've never felt before. Obviously the bigtime guys have felt it, but I've spoken to Dexter a little and he kind of said the same thing. That horse has gears that normal horses and even good horses don't have.  Were you surprised Bulldog Hanover got beat? A little bit. I was just a fan [that day]. I was watching it with my wife as he came off the last turn and I thought it doesn't look like he has it today. He's done this before, like in the North America Cup. Sometimes it just isn't the dog's day and that time it was Allywag Hanover's day. Lasix -- Yes or No?: Yes. Favorite TV Show?: Yellowstone. Trotters or Pacers?: Trotters. There is nothing better than a good trotter. I like the challenge.