‘Winning is always a thrill’

From his earliest days sitting behind a racehorse, Steve Reisenweaver displayed a bit of a competitive spirit. Reisenweaver followed his father, Roy, into harness racing and was jogging horses by the time he was 7 or 8 years old.

“When me and my dad went out and trained, I looked forward to that every day,” said Reisenweaver, adding with a laugh, “We’d go out and train together, and I would beat him, and he would always get mad. He’d say, ‘We’ve got to finish together! We’ve got to finish together!’

“I’ve just always enjoyed being with the horses. Sitting behind them, the driving, racing them — the competition.”

Reisenweaver has been racing horses for the better part of four decades. His father was born in northeast Pennsylvania, where he began his career as a trainer-driver, and later moved to southern New Jersey, where Reisenweaver still resides. Reisenweaver has never had a large stable (only twice has he started more than 100 races as either a trainer or driver, and never more than 109) and currently has two active horses that he drives in amateur races.

“I used to do it full time; I used to run a seven- or eight-horse stable,” the 69-year-old Reisenweaver said. “Then I just kind of got out of it for a couple years. My son (Steve Jr.) has got a tree business, and I work for him. But I got bored and I saw these amateurs and decided to get a horse. I got lucky, I got a nice horse, and I really enjoy it.”

Reisenweaver’s first horse upon his return to action in 2023 was Awol Hanover, who has won nine races for him since he acquired the trotter in the middle of that year. On Thursday, Awol Hanover will make his first start of the year in a division of the first leg of the North American Amateur Drivers Association Winter Fun Series at MGM Yonkers Raceway. The gelding will leave from post four with Reisenweaver in the sulky and is 6-1 on the morning line.

“He’s a little bit of a handful on the racetrack, but he knows me, and we get along good,” said Reisenweaver, who has driven Awol Hanover to eight of his nine wins since buying him. “We’re doing OK. We’re not setting the world on fire, but he pays his way and that’s all I expect him to do.”

Reisenweaver’s other horse is Gatsby, a trotter he purchased this past summer. His first victory with Gatsby came in an amateur race at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and was memorable for more than paying $56 to win.

“My son and wife and my grandchildren all were there,” Reisenweaver said. “So, they got their picture taken, which was nice. It wasn’t a real fast win, but it was a win.”

In December, Gatsby gave Reisenweaver the 100th training victory of his career, as well as his 166th as a driver.

Among Reisenweaver’s top horses from earlier in his career were multiple New York Sire Stakes winners Newyorkjoyants and South Jersey Flash (a homebred). Reisenweaver still owns Newyorkjoyants, now 22, as well as one of her offspring, Terri’s Surprize.

“She wasn’t my best horse, but she was my favorite,” Reisenweaver said about Newyorkjoyants. “She was one of the horses that really loved to race. She would get all excited when her race came up and she was fun to drive. She would do anything you wanted her to do.”

Since making his return to racing, Reisenweaver has won 11 of 82 races as a driver, plus six of 47 as a trainer. He hopes to continue competing in amateur races on a schedule similar to last year, which saw him start 61 times.

“I do it for fun,” Reisenweaver said. “And winning is always a thrill.”

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA