"There’s a very prominent trainer that one day told me, 'You know, kid, you can race a horse all right, but you’re not going to make it as a driver.'"

Those are the words of 2009 North American dash-winning driver Jody Jamieson, who, over the past few years, has not only proved his doubters wrong, but has paved a solid road towards prosperity for himself.

Jamieson, whose comments have come in a Guelph Mercury article, has made a very strong case for his second O'Brien Award as Canada's driver of the year.

During a season in which the 33-year-old strove to surpass Mark MacDonald's Canadian dash-wins record (739), Jamieson not only re-wrote the books with his 787 victories on Canadian soil, but he has closed the door on the 2009 campaign with 796 North American victories and a UDR of .366 from 3,322 pari-mutuel starts.

In addition to steering his mounts to 796 wins, Jamieson's charges also recorded 533 second-place finishes and 374 thirds in 2009. In total, the horses he drove this season earned $11,597,611 in purses.

In terms of the prominent trainer that told Jamieson he wasn't going to make it as a driver, the resident of Cambridge, Ont. has used the spurn to his advantage.

“He might be the guy I credit my whole driving career on, besides my dad, obviously,” Jamieson said.

Click here to the read the Guelph Mercury article in its entirety.

(With files from the Guelph Mercury)