Rob Harmon has been around the sport since he was a kid and has been a listed trainer for more than 30 years. During the last three decades he has been a rock on the overnight racing scene from Michigan to New York and climbed the leaderboard for career wins. The 53-year-old ranks 12th all-time in training victories and is closing in on 11th with each passing day. An Albany, New York native Harmon currently competes regularly at tracks like Monticello, Yonkers, Pocono, Saratoga and The Meadowlands, among others. Despite the busy schedule and a full barn to watch over, Harmon took the time to discuss his harness racing journey. How did you get started in harness racing? My mom and dad were in it, Reid and Nancy Harmon. From as early as I remember we were in New Hampshire at Hinsdale Raceway. We were there in 1976 I believe and then we went to Florida. We would go back and forth between Seminole Raceway and Pompano Park. In 1980 we moved to Lexington and I stayed in Florida with my coach to play baseball. Eventually we moved on to Toledo and Michigan until 2009 when I moved back east. Can you drop some names of people who helped you in your career? My dad and my brother, Don Harmon. I worked for Keith Crawford and Gordon Norris. Gord was the leading trainer in Michigan with like 100 head when I was with him. He was the kingpin in Michigan forever. You were born in Albany, New York but ended up as a driver/trainer in Michigan. How does that happen? I was born in Albany and my dad was racing at Saratoga at the time. We then went up to Brattleboro Vermont, which is like five minutes from Hinsdale. I don't really remember Saratoga. As far as Michigan, my dad just wanted to go somewhere there was year-round racing. We went to Kentucky on the way up, stayed at Toledo for one summer and then it was Michigan. At that time in the early 1980s they had Jackson and Hazel Park which was kind of a decent circuit. You had the good horses at DRC and Hazel Park. Northville was open in the winter. When they built Sports Creek that is where the B horses went. Is it true you won a training title back in Michigan? Yes. I won it there and at Windsor in maybe 2003 or 2004. How did you end up coming east? I think it was spring 2009. We had some horses in the winter late closers that year that my wife [Patti] and brother came out. I had an owner named Chuck Campbell and he made a comment to my wife that the horses were going to stay out east and if we wanted to keep them we needed to either stay out here or send someone to be with them. I didn't want to lose what were three decent horses, so my wife went out there for a few weeks. It was just going to be temporary, but I brought a few more horses and we did well at Yonkers when the money was good back then, so we decided to stay. At the time I had about 70 horses back in Michigan. You have over 3,500 career training wins. What does that number mean to you? It means we've been in it a long time. I didn't set any major goals. We just race a lot of overnight horses. You also have 674 driving wins and compete in the GSY Amateur series at The Meadowlands. Do you think it is fair for such an accomplished driver to compete in amateur races? I quit driving professionally when I was about 22 years old after my dad died from brain cancer. It just wasn't fun anymore. My brother was the driver in the family and I was more of the trainer. My dad and I were really tight and he showed me how to shoe and stuff like that. I just wanted to focus on my own horses. We were racing In Michigan at tracks like Jackson for $800 and you don't make any money. If you drove for other people it was just for the fun of it. How much can you really make getting 5% of $400? ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Why did you decide to drive in the amateurs now? I first started doing it because it was trotters and I could race them much easier in the series. It is fun racing at The Meadowlands but it is harder to drive against the amateurs. It is a lot easier with the regular drivers. I have a horse named MV OK Palacio BR who made $55,000 last year and $49K of it was in the amateurs. I saw you got fined for a whipping violation on that horse last year. What was that about? Go watch the race. I got a violation because right at the wire I tapped him four times with the whip -- tap, tap, tap, tap -- and the Judge said I could only do it twice. I said 'are you kidding me' and they said 'a rule's a rule.' I think they gave me five days and $500 for that, but they do it to everybody. What are your thoughts on amateur racing in general and what it offers the sport? If they get back to just amateurs, and this would take me out of it, it would be better. I think the amateur series should be for younger people. Some of these guys are driving for 30 years and still considered amateurs. I'm one of them. Yet I'm still not eligible to race in some amateur races. GSY is not amateurs, it is a driving club. The one at Yonkers or at Freehold, I should be able to drive in those but I can't. Yet some of the other guys can. What is your favorite track to race at? Why? I didn't make a lot of money but Jackson Raceway was the most fun; it was six-wide with two trailers. It was at the Jackson County fairgrounds. The crowds were unbelievable. There was always four to five thousand people. It just felt like a sold-out event and it was always fun. What is your favorite big event in racing? Why? When I was back home, Little Brown Jug week. We would train four or five Ohio-breds and take them. We would stay at the track all week with a camper. We don't get to do that anymore because I rarely get that way. Out here it is Hambletonian Day. That is fun. What is your favorite thing to do outside of harness racing? Play hockey in a men's league and watch my son play. He played five years at the University of Vermont and now he's at Mercyhurst University for his grad year. They gave him five years because he had a redshirt year. What is one thing about you most fans/bettors don't know? I was supposed to go to college. I was getting a scholarship to Big Rapids [Ferris State University] to play baseball. My dad told me not to start driving; people started to put me down because my brother was the leading driver and I had the name Harmon. I drove and I went down. It was opening year at Sports Creek in 1986. I was driving Lightning Renvaeh and went down at the three-quarter pole. I was just stepping out of the bike and a horse that was like 10 lengths back -- I don't know if the guy had his head down or whatever -- ran me right over and his horse fell on me and I dislocated my shoulder. After that I couldn't play baseball anymore. Then Kevin Johnson, who was a military recruiter was going to get me in, but I couldn't pass the physical because I couldn't do the pull-ups due to my shoulder. That was my plan B. So I went to my plan C to be a horse trainer and driver. My dad was disappointed but that was all I knew how to do. Then he was diagnosed with cancer when I was 20 and he was gone when I was 21. It's fine, but I never really got to grow up with him. I knew him as my dad but never really got to know him as a man. What is one word that describes harness racing for you? There are a lot of ups and downs. I don't think one word can do it justice. How many horses do you currently train and where are you stabled? 36 horses when all are in but 27 or 28 training right now. My numbers are down but I'd rather them be lower. I'm at Big Z Training Center and have been since September 2019. We are about 25 miles from Mark Ford's place and on the Pennsylvania/New York/New Jersey border. What is the best advice you've ever gotten or given about harness racing? Race them where they belong. What was your best moment in harness racing? In 1988 I won a Michigan Breeders Futurity when I was still in high school. I was the driver and the horse was named Casey's Mistral. Keith Carlisle owned the horse. ► Get a 5% REBATE on WIN and EXACTA wagers at The Meadowlands in March Does it say something that your best moment was 35 years ago? Honestly, that is when horse racing was fun. Back then I was living at home and mom and dad were paying the bills. Now it is tougher. I think everyone will agree that back in those days horse racing was a lot more fun. Which is the best horse you've ever trained? CC Spice. She was a homebred Chuck Campbell had bred to In The Pocket. She was the Ohio State champion as a 2- and 3-year-old and she made almost $700,000. She was our biggest horse from scratch. You are racing all over the east coast and often at multiple tracks in a day. Does that wear you thin? It does. You put a lot of miles on your truck and pay a lot of tolls. I have good guys that work for me now. We are racing three places today -- Monticello, Saratoga and Yonkers -- and I got guys going to all places. If you had the power to change one thing in the sport, what would it be? I know I'm going to say this and next thing you know I'll get a positive [laughing]. I think when someone gets days, I wish they would get the days. This should go for me or anyone, and maybe this is just you and me talking, but If I get a positive test and the split sample comes back and it says I'm guilty, I shouldn't be able to appeal that. You should have to serve your days. People get positive tests and they seem to go on forever on appeal. I don't know if it can be changed. How do you view the future of harness racing? It is going to be a lot tougher. There will be less racing opportunities the way things look around here. I do a lot of racing at Tioga and a lot of guys aren't coming back because Pompano closed. They found somewhere else to set up shop year-round, like The Meadows or Saratoga. I know Tioga will have short fields and they don't want to go short fields. I wish tracks wouldn't race against each other, but everyone wants to race on the weekends. To me, I don't understand why the tracks don't try to avoid each other more. Time for the stretch drive. Best Horse you ever saw: Direct Scooter. He was at Walnridge Farm. When I first started dating my wife we would go out on the farm and there was this tree with a tire hanging on it and boy would he beat up that tire. Best Driver Ever: When I was growing up in Michigan, the first horse John Campbell ever drove for us was named Frette. We claimed her out of Hazel Park for $15,000 or so and we took her down to Lexington and he won with her. So I'll go with John Campbell. Lasix -- Yes or No: If they need it. I think it should be a lot harder to put horses on Lasix. If I could race all my horses without Lasix I would. If you look up my horses you'll see I take more horses off Lasix than put them on it. Favorite TV Show: Blue Bloods and FBI International. Trotters or Pacers: Trotters.