Driver Simon Allard was on vacation in Lake George with his family when he got the word that the Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono was ready to reopen following the COVID-19 shutdown. A regular at the Wilkes-Barre track, he immediately changed his plans to make the first qualifying session. "I missed time with my family and my daughter and drove three-and-a-half hours to make it for the qualifiers on that Saturday morning," said Allard, whose tone was clearly drab. "The following Tuesday they told me I can't drive there anymore this year." Allard admits he "lost his mind" when speaking with VP of Racing Dale Rapson about the decision. "I was pretty upset about it at first, but I called him a week later and apologized. He was very understanding and he told me he would give me a call when I could return." Allard said he was given no reason other than there was an investigation ongoing, but that he suspects it is because his brother, trainer Rene Allard, was arrested on complaint by the FBI on March 13 for possession of empty syringes and bottles, which reportedly contained a medication not approved by the FDA. Although Simon Allard was not named in the complaint and no proof has been uncovered that he committed any crime, he is being forced to sit on the sidelines at the one track where he made his living. "I thought I was going to take maybe a 50% cut in my earnings this year because Rene was a big account for me, but I figured I'd be able to pick up drives at Pocono," said Simon Allard, who has won 3,962 career races as of July 2 and was fifth in the Pocono driver standings when racing shut down in March. "Now I find out I'm getting a 100% cut. Pocono is what keeps me alive." Allard has been driving at Harrah's Philadelphia, but with most of the leading drivers in the country competing at that track, making ends meet has been difficult to say the least. "I know we are all struggling with the coronavirus, but I had a fourth and a fifth last week from seven drives at Chester (Harrah's Philadelphia) and made about $60. That is all I've made in the last four months." When speaking to the typically fun-natured Allard, you can't help but hear the hurt in his voice as he tries to understand what he did wrong. "I've always been the guy who shows up at the press conferences, does the interviews, goes on TV for them, so it is hard to understand," said Allard about the suspension. Allard is now left searching for a place to race and earn a living. He only has four drives lined up this weekend and is hoping to land somewhere new. Having driven semi-regularly at Northfield Park and The Meadowlands in the past, perhaps those tracks are possibilities. While Dale Rapson was unavailable for comment, Meadowlands President Jeff Gural, who played a major role in the indictments which resulted in Rene being on the sidelines, didn't seem to have any issue with Simon. "I don't think he should be penalized as a driver, maybe as a trainer, I'm not sure," said Gural. Considering that Simon hasn’t trained a horse since 2005, Gural's statement would seem to open the door for the driver to test the waters in East Rutherford, especially with guys like Jordan Stratton, George Brennan and Jason Bartlett likely heading back to Yonkers Raceway on the weekends as that track adds those dates in the coming weeks. While Allard would like to stay near home since he recently purchased an 80-stall farm in New Jersey about 25 minutes from Harrah's Philadelphia, the driver admitted he would go wherever necessary to do what he loves most. "I was racing ponies when I was a kid and my dream was always to be a driver. Now I am one, and I want to keep doing it for a long time," concluded Allard.