Racing Reflections with Alan Schwartz

Alan Schwartz didn’t grow up on a farm and was not grandfathered into harness racing by his parents or grandparents. He did, however, enjoy the sport at a young age, even if it required being a little sly to satisfy his interest.

“When I was 17, 18, I worked in the hotels at the Catskill Mountains, and we used to sneak into Monticello and watch the races,” he said. “That was in its heyday.”

And did he ever get caught?

“I don’t think so,” Schwartz said with a laugh. “I would have remembered that. I also used to sneak into Ebbets Field to watch the Brooklyn Dodgers play, and they never caught me.”

Despite his early antics, the New York native has not actually led a life of crime. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Schwartz is a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marines before going on to run a successful moving company.

Although Schwartz, who will turn 76 in August, got a late start in harness racing, he has some nice “Racing Reflections” that he is happy to share. Now in his 34th year, Schwartz is the leading active amateur driver in wins with 624 and the horses he’s driven have earned $2.54 million in purses. As a trainer, he has 78 victories and $498,395 in earnings.

Alan waded into the Standardbred business in 1972 at age 26, when his cousin, Irving Braverman, approached him about a purchase.

“He got involved with actually driving and training,” Schwartz said. “He did it for a short period. I owned a couple horses with him back then. We were pretty close at the time, and he asked if I wanted to go partners on a horse or two. He had a little success, not a lot, and got out of it at that point.”

Flash forward to 1986, when friend Jerry Hade convinced Schwartz to partner with him on Curragh, a full brother to world champion Albert Albert. Curragh began having success at Roosevelt and Yonkers, leading to Schwartz’s increased involvement.

“That was the catalyst for me coming down, jogging horses,” he said. “I heard there was an amateur club at Monticello, which I joined at that time and that’s how I got started.

“In 1988 we had a fellow by the name of Ronnie Ingrassia who trained for us. I was living on Long Island at the time, he said ‘Why don’t you come down and start jogging horses?’ which I did on the weekends. It got into my blood, and it’s been there ever since.”

Alan’s first drive came at age 43.

“It was scary; it took me a while to get the hang of it,” he said.

He has figured it out since then, as the old dog embraced lots of new tricks. For 11 years he ran his moving company while also driving and training. Asked if there were enough hours in the day, Schwartz said, “There’s still not enough hours in the day.”

After selling the business he became a full-time driver/trainer in 1999 and, despite his late start with Standardbreds, there was never any trepidation.

“I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and get started,” Schwartz said. “I got into training, because basically it was about wanting to see what you need to do to get ‘em going and keep ‘em going.”

Alan attacks both jobs with equal zeal.

“I would say it’s all one big ball of wax,” he said. “I like training them, jogging them, working with them, being around them. I do a little bit of breeding here and there. I just like the whole ball of wax.”

Schwartz shows no signs of slowing down. He has two training wins and $12,182 in earnings in 24 starts this year, and two driving wins and $13,958 in earnings in 25 starts.

He also is the president of the Monticello Harness Horsemen’s Association.

Looking back on his career, his favorite horse is Iroquoindiangiver, who earned a half-million dollars and won the New York Sire Stakes final as a 2- and 3-year-old with Wally Hennessey driving in 2002-’03.

“We bought him for $5,000 as a yearling up at Morrisville College,” Schwartz said. “After he became New York state champion I started driving him and he was just a Cadillac. Just a great horse to work with, to be around and to race. He could go from behind, go to the front, whatever you asked him to do.”

The horse was equally enjoyable in the stable.

“He was a character,” Schwartz said. “I was always teasing him with cookies and stuff. He’d tease back. We just had a very good rapport. He liked me, walked right up to me. He was a friend.”

Alan’s favorite moment was when he won with two 3-year-olds at Buffalo Raceway in the New York Sire Stakes. His most memorable moment came in Australia in 1996 at the first of his four World Cup appearances.

“The last and biggest race was at a track called Moonee Valley; it was supposedly the biggest track in the country,” Schwartz recalled. “They took 12 drivers, put us all in a room, took all the horses’ names and put them in a bucket and had us pick in alphabetical order of the countries.”

Since America was listed as United States of America, Schwartz picked last. Which turned out to be quite serendipitous.

“It went Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, right down the line,” he said. “I picked a horse, I don’t remember the name — something Sugar. Brown Sugar, something like that. It was a mare that had just qualified and hadn’t raced in over six months. I drew the 12 hole or something.

“Long story short, I won the race, and coming back to the winner’s circle they played the American National Anthem. There were photographers there. It was a whole big to-do. It was just one of the most memorable races of all.”

It had to provide chills for a guy who fought for his country.

“That was fantastic,” he said.

Schwartz also raced World Cups in Moscow, Belgium and Paris, as his profession has helped him see the world.

“It’s been a trip,” he said. “You’re there with these other amateur clubs. You’re not going as a tourist you’re going as friends of theirs and they take you to places you never see as a tourist. We’ve made some great relationships all over the world. We still communicate with people in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France. It’s been fantastic.”

When it comes to other memorable horses, Schwartz is partial to most members of Iroquoindiangiver’s family. But when it comes right down to it, every animal he deals with has a special meaning.

“One thing about horses, they give you 110 percent,” he said. “Whether they have the ability or not, they try. And that’s what I like about them. They try their heart out. Any horse, for the most part, would give you 110 percent.”

As MHHA president, Schwartz also gives 110 percent as he successfully guided it through last year’s COVID-19 shutdown. When asked why he took on such responsibility, he replied, “That’s a good question. I ask myself that question. I guess because I had some business experience, I was on the board, and it seemed like a natural progression.”

But it was probably not on his radar back in the days of dodging those ticket-takers.