Jeff Hunt: From the batter’s box to the bike

Jeff Hunt, Ontario’s newest harness racing driver, is batting 1.000 after his first start.

An audible at the entry box put him at the lines of Lilys Lass, a mare co-owned and trained by his father Pat, in the eighth race at The Raceway at the Western Fair District last Tuesday (Mar. 14). Hunt found her a seat fourth, tipped her out second-over on the third turn, and put the pedal down with a three-wide move racing to three-quarters. The mare then exploded past the leaders on the final turn and won going away to give Hunt a career debut victory at 32 years old.

Hunt said the win hit the first target he set for himself long ago.

“It’s kind of weird to put in words, to be honest,” he said. “When I started hanging around the barn like seven or eight years ago now, I kind of got hooked on driving. And I didn’t have any licenses back at that point – everything had run out – and so basically, for those seven or eight years, I’ve wanted to get my driver’s license, not knowing what’s ahead of me or anything. But that was the attraction, sort of like playing in the major leagues would be for any kid growing up, or playing in the NHL.

“So last Tuesday was kind of the culmination of that first goal that I had ever set. The most emotional part, the most exciting part, was being able to share it with people, when they would congratulate you or talk about it.”

JEFF HUNT / LILYS LASS REPLAY

Hunt understands better than most the dream of playing in the MLB – the former minor-leaguer played five seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system. He was selected in the 15th round of the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft but was released in 2012 after a season of A-ball in the Midwest League. He then went to Wilfred Laurier University for Global Studies and Spanish as a mature student, working at the same time.

In Spring Break of his fourth year, Hunt asked the question that started the journey which landed him in the winner’s circle at London on Tuesday.

“I had nothing to do for the week, and I said to my dad ‘can I go jog a horse?’ he said. “So I went out to the barn the next day, I jogged a horse, and I’ve wanted to win a race ever since that day.”

Hunt jogged whenever he could at the barn of his father, longtime Ontario trainer Pat Hunt, through work and school, unable to take a more involved role at the barn. Jeff Hunt said he always planned on moving permanently to the industry after graduation and, upon completing his program, began working as a groom for local trainer Nick Gallucci. Hunt said the experience was terrific but also important, as it gave him a greater understanding of the groom role, and put him at the lines a lot more.

“That was a wicked experience, and Nick let me do a lot of training and driving that I probably had no business doing at that point, so that was awesome,” he said.

But after Gallucci became the head trainer for Millar Farms, Hunt joined forces with his father. He obtained his trainer’s license and shadowed his dad as best he could, picking up tricks of the trade learned over a lifetime of experience. Jeff Hunt learned the responsibilities of a trainer and knew the prospect of taking them on appealed to him. He also won his debut on the training side when Austin Sorrie guided Return To Style to victory on Jul. 5, 2020. In 54 starts so far from two trainees, Hunt has seven wins.

Now, he says, it’s all about improvement.

“Every day I just go out there and try to get better on both the training side and the driving side,” he said. “Every time I sit in a jogger, and I jog something, I’m half-thinking I’m on the racetrack in a race. And part of that is because I didn’t start until I was 26. I guess as a baseball player you always want to be the youngest kid to the big leagues and hit the most home runs ever and be that guy, but when you don’t get your first drive until you’re 32, and there aren’t as many races as there used to be, it’s not all about stats.

“We just try to go out and be the best version of ourselves every day and not really have an inked plan about the future. None of us can predict the future, so we can’t get tied to anything. We’re just going out there every day trying to do the best we can.”

Though he has no set-in-stone plan, Hunt does have a goal:

“I want to take down Nick Boyd as the king of Kawartha,” he said. “I think everybody wants to say ‘I would love to win the Breeders Crown,’ but I can’t tell you that I’m ever going to get there. But I think I can tell you that I could probably get a few drives at Kawartha this summer. I think I’d rather just put that one down rather than something like ‘let’s go win all eight Breeders Crown races in one night.”

Boyd won the driving title at Kawartha Downs in both 2020 and 2021. Hunt taking on the challenge of dethroning him may be rooted in his baseball experience – he said part of his mentality from his time at the diamond was “to scout people and try to beat them.” But another part of his mindset is also rooted in the courage and perseverance it took to play baseball.

“I used to go out and face 95-100 miles per hour off the mound – and that’s scary man, that stuff can hit you, you know?” he said. “You get some of those Dominican guys out there throwing as hard as they can. So I’ve been in those scary positions where you don’t know what’s going to happen, and you might fail, and you might get knocked down. But none of us are really thinking about getting knocked down, we’re just out there having fun competing. And absolutely, 100 per cent, I take that mentality from baseball.”

Hunt’s next challenge is tonight (Mar. 21): the eight-hole against Ontario’s best B-track Free For All trotters. He’ll steer Lilys Lass again as she steps up to the Preferred at The Raceway at the Western Fair District. The field features horses such as London’s 2022 Preferred Trotter of the Year Scene A Magician, the track’s 2022 Aged Trotting Horse of the Year Heavy Dude E, and Sizzlen Hot Herbie, who won both of his last attempts at the level, among others.

The stiff competition, however, has Hunt hyped.

“I think every horse in there is every bit as good as her, and I think she’s every bit as good as any horse in that field,” he said. “I’ve seen the races and I’ve gone back and watched the replays, and that Preferred at London is a very competitive race. And honestly, I might even be more looking forward to this one, where you do get buried a little bit, an opportunity to actually show something. Like I said, when I watch that race, all those horses are right here at the wire, they’re a good calibre of horse.

“I’m actually really excited. I think Lily will be right there with them, I think she’ll do great off of cover. She won’t have to get to the front or anything kind of just like last week – and I think she liked that. I’m excited and I think she’s every bit as good as any other horse in there, and I think we should be knocking on the door.”

Hunt is thankful for the help he’s had on his journey. He said he wanted to thank his parents most of all – “everything I have, everything I do, I owe to them – that really is not even one bit of a stretch.” He called his dad his mentor. He said when Pat Hunt told him to list himself last Tuesday, he took it as a sign that he was ready. Jeff Hunt also wanted to thank his sister and his uncle Phil Coole, as well as Nick Gallucci. He expressed his importance in showing gratitude to those who have helped him along the way.

And while Lilys Lass and he knock on the door of the London Preferred tonight, Hunt himself is knocking on the door of the Ontario catch-driving scene.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink