A winning combo; Case Bateson & Rock N Randy V

“The bar wasn’t real high,” Bateson said with a laugh.

Flash back to July 9, 2014, when Steve Bateson, recently named an Ohio USTA director, got his first win in his 58th start. While discussing it several weeks later, Steve said, “I had caught flack from my older boy (then 12-year-old Case) who thought I would never win a race. He wasn’t there to see it, but I got a photo to prove it to him.”

Shortly over seven years to the day, on July 21, Case earned the same honor when he drove Rock N Randy V to victory at Ohio’s Washington Court House. The only difference was this came in the 19-year-old’s fourth career start.

“It’s a pretty exciting feeling,” Bateson said. “It truthfully feels like a big weight lifted off because it’s your first one. You want to get it out of the way, especially knowing how long it took my dad to do it. You want to just get it over with. Once you get that first one out of the way, it feels nice.”

It wasn’t as if Case was struggling up to that point. After getting his fair license in January, he drove 10 qualifiers for trainers Jason and Jeff Brewer until getting his first start with Rock N Randy V (Pet Rock) on June 23. That produced a second place, followed by a third and a sixth before he unexpectedly hit the winner’s circle.

“I had the six hole,” Bateson said. “I didn’t really think I had much of a chance going into the day, especially at six. It was kind of a tough bunch of horses. My expectations were pretty low.”

Once away from the gate, however, he finessed his way to the front and took it from there.

“When the lanes opened I just kind of floated out there,” he said. “I didn’t really try to rush. After the first turn I kind of rushed my way to the front and cleared just before the half and it was game, set and match from there.”

Bateson led by three lengths in the stretch and coasted to victory by three-quarters of a length.

Proving it was no fluke, Bateson went on to win three more times in his next 10 starts, all with Rock N Randy V.

Asked if he’s taking aim on his father’s mark for victories, Case laughed and said, “I think he has like, two, so. . .”

Ironically, his favorite reinsman as a kid was Greg Bateson, who is no relation. Case, who doesn’t mind playfully sticking it to his dad, said he never really gravitated toward making Steve his favorite.

“Not really,” he said. “After it took 58 efforts, you kind of see the writing on the wall.”

The urge to drive has been in Bateson’s blood since an early age.

“I’ve always really wanted to do it since I was a little kid,” he said. “It’s all I ever wanted to do. It just looked exciting; just kind of a rush.”

Bateson jogged his first horse at age 12 and felt “it was kind of cool.” He played high school baseball for one year but gave it up after ninth grade, preferring to work with horses.

After one semester of college, Case knew the classroom wasn’t for him.

“The focus probably wasn’t there,” he said. “The horses kind of took hold and that’s what I really focused on.

“My dad owned horses with Jason. Growing up, I used to go visit him during the summer after baseball season, and I helped him out, just hung out for a month or whatever. After high school I really liked doing it. So, I just kind of made it a full-time gig.”

He began working as a groom for Brewer and his brother Jeff and, after getting his license, drove his first qualifier Jan. 27. Despite jogging and training most of his life, it was Case’s first time ever sitting in a race bike. He found that in his first several qualifiers, the anxiety leading up to it was worse than the actual experience.

“It’s a little nerve wracking those first few, you’re nervous until you go to the gate,” Bateson said. “That was my biggest thing. Once I got to the gate, I was fine, it was just the process of getting there. I qualified quite a few horses and just got to where I was comfortable doing it and had fairly good luck doing it. Then I made my way out to the fair circuit.”

His first race was with Rock N Randy V and, once again, there was some trepidation leading up to it.

“A little bit, because a race is a lot different than a qualifier,” Bateson said.

And yet he guided the horse to a second-place finish, which did wonders for his confidence.

“Oh absolutely,” he said. “It felt really good. It was like ‘We got a chance now.’”

On the same day as his first win, Bateson drove Mervin Schmucker’s Yankee Sparkle to a third-place finish in a race he felt he could have won.

“I didn’t move until late and unfortunately ended up getting third,” he said.

Two starts later he hit the promised land and has been winning ever since, all with Rock N Randy V. It has been a pleasant surprise to start his career.

“The horse that I win with is kind of special, because I own some of him and my dad owns some of him,” Case said. “I’ve been getting to sit behind a really nice horse. I’m really fortunate and blessed as far as that goes.

“Honestly, coming into summer I’d like to say my goal was five wins, especially at a young age. To rattle off wins the way that I have, I have no complaints.”

His strong start has only strengthened his resolve to make a living as a driver.

“If I’m lucky enough, I’d like to say I made a career out of it,” he said. “I don’t really have a timetable. When it comes, it comes.”

He takes that same attitude toward expanding his drives beyond the Buckeye State.

“Just wherever opportunities were to take me, I’d look at,” Case said. “Ohio is really tough, there’s a lot of talent. On any given night there’s about 14 guys who can do anybody’s job, I believe. I think you have to keep a little bit of an open mind and if you need to test the waters somewhere, you need to be open to do it. Go where the opportunity is.”

by Rich Fisher, for the USTA