"I was never really big into reading books ... but with horse racing, it just seemed to click."

In a recent interview, Nick Catalano recalled "The Meadows racing form" as his reading material of choice in middle school. Now at 26, Catalano's favourite book hasn't changed ... although as a Standardbred owner, he can frequently find his name in its pages.

"With only a little bit of money, I had to take it slow in the beginning," Catalano explained when profiled by the Washington, Pa.-based Observer-Reporter. "That's how you learn the business."

Catalano, who works closely with the training tandem of brothers Scott and Tim Betts, has come a long way since buying his first horse while studying at the University of North Carolina.

"I was 19 and owned my first race horse," Catalano continued. "I was in college and my horse was racing. Me and my friends were watching on my computer. And he just got beat out."

From that near miss with his first horse seven years ago, Catalano has blossomed into a prominent owner at The Meadows, with 30 horses currently to his name. Among the most prominent is 10-year-old pacer Phoenix Warrior N, who won 13 of 29 starts in 2018 on his way to local Horse of the Year honours at The Meadows for Catalano and partners Tim Betts and Stephen Moss.

While racing in Pennsylvania remains at a standstill under some of the more stringent governmental restrictions in North America, Catalano and his partnership is doing their part to keep not just their stable — but the whole Meadows backstretch — as normally operational as possible.

"We didn’t lay off any of our workers," Catalano said. "We’re hopeful, trying to stay positive that we’ll get back to racing."

(with files from the Washington, Pa., Observer-Reporter)