At just 22 years old driver Justin Irvine is starting to make a name for himself. He’s more than doubled his best season in wins and earnings while sitting second in the driver standings at Northfield Park behind perennial leader Aaron Merriman. A fourth-generation horseman whose father Don is in the Ohio Hall of Fame and many in his family compete on the track or own, one would certainly say that harness racing is in his roots. Just a few days removed from guiding Southwind Amazon to his record 138th victory, Irvine took some time to discuss his career, his family and the sport in general with some very thoughtful answers. Enjoy! You are a fourth-generation participant in harness racing. Was there ever a chance you wouldn’t be involved in the sport? I think my mom (Renee) and dad (Don) hoped I wouldn’t be but I knew after I jogged my first horse that I was going to do something with horses. It was fun and I liked it. I watched a video where you mentioned possibly going to college. Did you go? I got accepted to a couple of different places but I decided not to go. I just didn’t think I would like it. Just to get the timeline right, you were born in Ohio, moved to Indiana and then came back to Ohio? Yeah. I was born in Ohio and when I was like eight or 10 months old my parents moved to Indiana when they first opened up at Hoosier and also Indiana Downs was there. When my parents got divorced when I was 9 in 2010, I moved back with my mom to Ohio. Your dad Don Irvine Jr is an Ohio Hall of Famer with over 7,600 career wins. Does having an accomplished dad make your path harder or easier? I don’t think it plays a big role from the outside looking in, but for me it is harder because I wanted to do well because of him, because he’s been so accomplished I feel like I owe it to him and everybody to do well. Though I don’t think anyone else sees it that way. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter According to USTA records your first win came at the Goshen Fair in 2016 when you were 14 but you didn’t drive again for more than two years. How come? I have a picture in my house. I was driving for Mark Ford. That was the second matinee I ever drove. I kind of got into sports. I played football and I wrestled. My dad also moved to Pennsylvania at The Meadows so it was a little difficult for me to stay in touch with the horses as much as I would like to. There weren’t a lot of matinees in Ohio and the ones that are around were far from me, they were more southern and western Ohio. They were three and four hours away from me.  This year you’ve already doubled your career high for wins and earnings. What changed from 2023 to 2024? Just location and opportunity. I was up in Michigan for a while driving and working for somebody that had a bunch of horses. It was a far drive to race in Ohio so I just stayed in Michigan most of the time. Then I moved back home [Ohio] and there were a lot more opportunities. I lived in Michigan for about a year and a half. I drove horses and got experience. When I got my license it was the year of COVID [2020] and since everything was shut down, everybody wanted to drive when we came back. So there wasn’t much opportunity in Ohio and I went to Michigan. Without doing that I wouldn’t have gotten as much experience and wouldn’t have been driving as much as I did. Is it an eye-opener doubling your salary in one year? Yeah. I always imaged I could make pretty good money driving horses, but driving in Michigan for less money I didn’t really know if it was possible. Even at the beginning of the year I didn’t think I’d get to where I’m at now. I thought maybe 1.25 million in earnings, adding 25% to the previous year was possible but I’ve basically doubled all my stats in each category. You are currently second in the Northfield driver standings behind Aaron Merriman. What does that mean to you? It is kind of surreal I guess. I’ve watched Aaron and Ronnie [Wrenn], and guys like Kurt Sugg, Chris Lems, and Billy Davis my whole life. To be able to go out there and race with them is unbelievable. I think the top eight to 10 guys here are all capable of driving good horses and they all drive very well. To be able to be second behind the leading dash-winning driver the last 10 years or so is pretty cool. Recently you drove at The Meadowlands for the first time and picked up a couple of seconds. What was that like? It was cool. Two seconds is kinda like a win, at least that’s how I look at it [laughing]. In the winter time they kind of get down on drivers and we’re not racing Friday and Saturday right now at Northfield so I figured at least on Fridays when they don’t have stakes races and the top-name drivers won’t be there, I might as well take a shot and at least experience it. I drive like 95 to 98% of my horses on a half and I don’t get the big-track experience, not only the name like The Meadowlands but just the bigger track in general. It was a good experience and a lot of fun. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Justin Irvine drove again at The Meadowlands on November 15 and won twice.] Do you see yourself hanging around at The Meadowlands through the winter months? If I can get some work I’ll be there every night that I’m listed. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? I would say the Delaware Ohio fair. I’m an Ohio kid and I grew up watching the Jugette and the Jug, and all of those races. Just the atmosphere, it is a county fair but it has some of the best racing in Ohio with Grand Circuit races. It is a great track and just a cool atmosphere with the fans and so many events. It’s just a great place. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? I guess it must be driving on the road because that is what I’ve been doing a lot [laughing]. I like to work out and relax. I try not to do too much because I’m usually in the barn or I’m racing. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don’t know? If I was small enough I would much rather be a jockey than a driver. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? Fun. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten about harness racing? Drive for checks and the wins will come. What was your best moment in harness racing? Driving in the Courageous Lady this year because it was my first Grand Circuit start. I drove Soft Shot and finished third for Jessica Roegner. Which is your favorite horse to drive? Southwind Amazon. Speaking of Southwind Amazon, you recently drove him to win #138 to set a new all-time record for lifetime wins. What was it like to be in the bike that night? It was really cool and a lot of people have asked me, but it is not about me, it is about the horse because he’s done it the hard way in overnight horses his whole life. It was cool to be the one in the bike but he’s an old guy that knows how to do everything himself; I was just a passenger who got to steer him. Southwind Amazon has really gotten sharp now, no? He had a little bit of a bad spell during the summer time but as of late he’s been really good. I’m not going to say he’s his old self but against the horses he’s racing he looks like his old self. In May you had an incident where your horse wasn’t responding on the lead and you tossed your whip in frustration into the infield. While it didn’t affect the outcome of the race, do you regret it? Yeah, for sure. It was immature and stupid. I looked over and hit the wheel disk and the tip of my whip broke. It was a culmination of I was 1-5 and I’m getting beat and I just broke my whip. I thought to myself that I was beat anyway and just threw my whip as a temper tantrum; I’ll just call it what it was. I definitely regret it and it will never happen again. What is your ideal vision for the future of your career? Just to drive good horses and be able to make a living. Do you see yourself staying in Ohio the rest of your life or aspiring to drive on the Grand Circuit regularly? If you ask anybody that question they’d be silly to say that they wouldn’t want the opportunity to drive Grand Circuit horses and drive on a big stage. Ronnie Wrenn Jr just won a Breeders Crown this year and Aaron Merriman has driven in the Hambletonian and was fourth. Those guys are mainstays in Ohio; Chris Page, too, he’s driven in multiple Breeders Crowns and won the Little Brown Jug. I think you want to do that and I’ve dreamed of being a big-time driver and being great, and if that is where my career ends up taking me, absolutely I’d travel and leave Ohio, but wherever I can make money is good with me. I enjoy driving horses and doing well. I’m just going to do the best I can and if the opportunity comes along I’ll make the most of it. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? The perception of people on the outside. They look at it like a cruel sport and we are forcing the horses to do what they do. I went down in an accident a couple of months ago and I couldn’t hold her. These horses let you do want they want you to do. We aren’t forcing them to do anything they don’t want no matter what anyone says. Some of them are 1,200 or 1,300 pounds and if they want to roll off the track, want to wheel, kick or stop, there is nothing we can do. Sure, we can do different things to try to make them stop but ultimately they are bred to do this, just like a dressage horse is bred to do that or a show jumper is bred to do that. I don’t think people on the outside understand that these horses don’t know what to do with their lives if they weren’t racing. Like Southwind Amazon, he’s going to go nuts when he’s done racing because he doesn’t know anything other than racing. I just wish people on the outside understood that while, yes there have been some bad looks on the sport and I wish sometimes there never were, obviously, but if you worked around horses and understood what we do to take care of these horses and race them, and all the effort that goes into them, people would understand how much we care about the animal; not just the sport. We care about the animal a lot. How do you view the future of harness racing? I think it depends on the jurisdiction but there are a lot of places that are definitely trending upwards. Unfortunately Michigan’s last racetrack closed down and I had to move home and in Illinois, Hawthorne is very limited on days. But look at places like Ohio, Kentucky or New York, their stakes programs keep getting better and better every year and people keep breeding and buying more horses. I even bought an Ontario-bred this year because their program is good and you can definitely make money. There are places all over the country that are getting better every year. Obviously with the casinos and sports betting, that helps tremendously since it is where we get the majority of our money from, but I think the states now too are starting to realize the big economic impact that harness racing has on a state with employments and everything. So I think for the foreseeable future, at least the next 10 to 15 years, maybe 20, I think there are quite a few jurisdictions that are safe. I don’t want really like to use that word because anything can happen at any time, but I think it is definitely trending upwards; for sure in the Midwest and even East a little bit too. How many horses do you own? I currently own parts of four horses. What does a day in the life of Justin Irvine look like? I get up between 7:30 and 8:00 am. I go to the barn and help my dad because he has a couple of horses he trains for other people, and I take care of my own as well. Then I usually go home and work out for 45 minutes to an hour, maybe get something to eat or have a coffee, shower and rest until about 4 o’clock. Then I pack up my colors and everything and head to the track. I’m usually there from 5 until midnight. Time for the stretch drive: Best Horse you ever saw: Because I’ve seen him race so many times and I’ve only seen most of the good ones on TV, Charlie May. I’ve watched him race in Ohio for the last few years and seen him a bunch of times live at Northfield. He’s the best horse I’ve seen up close. Lasix – Yes or No: Absolutely, yes. Favorite TV Show: I watch some Netflix. I really liked Peaky Blinder and Suits is my number one. Trotters or Pacers:  Trotters.