If you ever had any questions about Matt Kakaley, you'll probably get all of your answers here
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The 22-year-old phenom has nine drives on the Meadowlands Racetrack's Friday night card. Before the races, Kakaley will be the featured guest on In The Sulky, a pre-card television segment that allows fan to ask questions of the sport's leading drivers and trainers. The broadcast will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the Paddock Level television set. Fans can email questions for Kakaley to answer to [email protected].
"I've only driven once before at the Meadowlands, in a late closer for (trainer) Ron Burke," Kakaley noted.
Kakaley will pilot Chaplin Hall for the Burke barn in Friday night's eighth race. His partnership with the sport's top money-winning outfit has helped propel Kakaley to 292 wins and $3.7 million in purse earnings this season.
"My relationship with the Burkes started with Mickey Burke down in Florida when I was 18 or 19. They were looking for somebody to go to Northfield Park and drive their horses up there. Ron Burke watched me drive at Pompano Park one night. I trained some for my father, John, the next morning, and then Ronnie took me out to dinner that night. We talked it over and it just kind of progressed from there.
"I'm driving for Ron Burke at the Meadowlands this weekend. I don't know if I'll be back next week. He'll let me know Tuesday or Wednesday when the draw comes out. If not, I'll go to Chester and Dover Downs, and wherever I can get work."
In 2009, Kakaley became the youngest driver ever to reach 1,000 wins at the age of 21. After spending last winter at Pompano Park, Kakaley raced mainly at Pocono Downs in 2010, while supplementing his schedule with Yonkers, Tioga Downs, Harrah's Chester and Dover Downs. He finished third in the Pocono standings, behind George Napolitano, Jr. and Jim Morrill, Jr., with 201 wins and $2,321,384 in purses won.
"There are so many tracks and that's the great aspect of this area. As a driver you can give all of them a try and race two cards a day if you want to. You're bound to get your foot in the door somewhere. There are a lot of options if you're a driver and you want to work.
"I was fortunate at Pocono because I drove for Ron Burke no matter what, and hopefully that goes forever. Erv Miller was using me quite a bit. I picked up a lot of catch drives from the locals, but my loyalty was to those two barns.
"I can't really pinpoint a time when I realized I can compete with the top drivers. I got off to a really good start at Pocono and it just kind of ballooned from there. I was driving in every race and ended up third in the standings behind two outstanding drivers. Once I started doing well there, guys started using me at Chester and Yonkers. They started having confidence in using me."
And Kakaley had more confidence in himself as the year went on.
"The more horses I drove, and the better the horses were, the more confident I got. When you look over and see you're 6-5, you naturally get confident. Plus, the more you're out there, you get a better feel for things and you learn from top drivers. You get the hang of their quirks and what they do out there.
"You don't want to overdrive one that's 50-1 and get in the way, and you've got to put the bad races behind you all the time. That's the good thing about driving a lot. It's easier to shake off a bad result. If you have a bad drive, there might be nine more on the card."
Kakaley's biggest win to date came last year behind Sheer Desire, who stepped to a 1:49.4 victory in a $300,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes Final on September 6, 2009 at the Red Mile.
"Without a doubt the best adrenaline rush is going for big money in a stakes race. When I won that race it was the greatest feeling ever. It's the feeling going behind the gate when you know you have a good one, and as long as you don't do anything stupid [the victory could be yours].
"Driving in major races like the Meadowlands Pace and Breeders Crown are definitely on my wish list. Hopefully, I can eventually hook up with a top horse I can follow around. That's my main goal."
A third generation horseman, Kakaley grew up in Michigan and moved to Florida as a teenager with his parents John and Linda Kakaley, a successful driver-trainer team at Pompano Park.
"Growing up with my father and mother in the business definitely helped me, especially at the very beginning. I was driving all of my mom's horses when I started out in Florida. It was a good first step for me because it's just so hard to get catch drives when you're 18."
Kakaley's career really began to blossom in Ohio, where he quickly established himself as one of the leading drivers at Northfield Park. In 2007, he was honoured with the Peter Haughton Memorial Award by the Ohio chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association and the Terry Holton Youth Award by the Ohio harness Horsemen's Association. The following year, Kakaley finished second in the driver standings at Northfield and closed out the season with 499 victories and $1,515,200 in earnings. In 2009, he surpassed the $2 million mark in purses won, a figure he will nearly double by the end of this year.
"Growing up as a little boy, I never thought I'd be a harness driver. Once I started working with the horses it somehow got in my blood and that became my goal. I played baseball and I was a really good bowler. I could have probably done something with bowling. It seems like I made the right choice because things are going well."
(Meadowlands)