THE current lack of live action on the harness racing front has allowed us the luxury of picking the brains of some of the leading figures from the Irish and British scene.

It’s an ill wind that blows no good and one of the most famous drivers in the entire world agreed to speak to The Irish Field during the May bank holiday week.

John Campbell (65) retired from driving in 2017 having steered the winners of $299,675,405 in prize money. He spoke to this paper from his home in New Jersey.

Perhaps it’s the fact that trotting lives in the shadow of the more popular flat racing world, but the protagonists in US harness racing, be they owners, drivers or officials seem to go to lengths to be helpful on the PR front. Campbell has long been touted at the successor to the late Del Miller’s ‘all round nice guy’ title.

John could not have been more accommodating to Ireland, a country where the entire purse fund in 2019 was €680,000.

Campbell’s statistics make for impressive reading. He won the world’s most famous race for trotters ‘The Hambletonian’ six times. He won the equivalent for pacers ‘The Little Brown Jug’ three times.

In total, he drove the winners of 10,665 races in a 45-year long career. John drove winners of Breeders Crown divisions (the late season championships) in five decades.

The legend goes that he made the journey from his native Ontario in 1976 with a pregnant wife and 14 average horses to try his hand at the newly-opened Meadowlands at East Rutherford, New Jersey.

After a hesitant start John and his fellow Canadian Bill O’Donnell rapidly revolutionised the modern sport.

Until then horses had mainly been driven by their trainers, quite often older gentile horsemen. The old timers were great feeders and conditioners but did not have the razor sharp reflexes of the younger men.

With greater purses and even the occasional million dollar race, the difference between when to sit and when to go became crucial. The trainers started putting the younger men up more frequently and the ‘catch driver’ was born.

Just as John himself had nudged to one side the Stanley Dancers and Billy Haughtons of his generation, he himself grew old by comparison with the new kids like Jodie Jamison, Tim Tetrick and Matt Kakaley.

Even though he was still competitive, at 61 retirement beckoned. A bit like Ruby Walsh in the National Hunt arena, he wanted to go out at the top.

In 2017 it emerged that the President of The Hambletonian Society, Tom Charters was wanting to slow down. Negotiations opened and Campbell put in a tour of final drives at some of his favourite tracks.

Today he is a natural statesman for the society which administers many of the sport’s biggest prizes including the Breeders Crown series.

This year they hope to stage the 95th renewal of The Hambletonian. The race is named after the mainly thoroughbred-derived stallion from whom all Standardbreds descend. John’s new role sees him in charge of multi-million staking systems and closely involved with breeders/sponsors.

Both Mark Flanagan of the IHRA and race promoter Derek Delaney have offered him an open invitation to visit an Irish festival meeting. John seems interested but thinks that, with the current chaos in the US fixture list, the visit will not be in 2020.

Dan Carlin: Did you enjoy the training aspect? Does your brother Jim still train?

John Campbell: I did enjoy the training but as my catch driving business grew I lost the desire to get up early in the morning to train. With night racing at the Meadowlands it was common to get home at 1am. I gave up my own barn in 1985. Jim still trains around 45 horses he is based at Magical Acres.

DC: What drivers did you admire when you were a young boy?

JC: Well, my father, uncle and grandfather were all in the business, they taught me well. Up in Canada there was a guy called Ron Fegan who taught me a lot.

DC: What do you remember about your first winner?

JC: (laughs) He paid $94 for a $2 ticket – that tells you a lot. My uncle trained him, he had to race covered up. I got away third, kept him buried and produced him in the straight, he did the rest.

DC: Bill O’Donnell - the Magic Man - was your nemesis. Tell me a bit about him.

JC: We were and still are great friends off the track. He is now involved in the horseman’s association in Ontario. He was very good at what he did, hard to beat.

DC: Which of the leading US drivers do you like watching now?

JC: There’s not much to choose between them. Andrew McCarthy had a break-out season last year. It has been great to watch Dexter Dunn make the change from New Zealand to American racing.

DC: He came to Portmarnock, the crowd loved him.

JC: I’m not surprised, he is a very personable young man.

DC: Which of your three Jug winners did you enjoy most?

JC: I owned a piece of Merger, so that was sweet. But what Life Sign did, two wide the whole way - I’ve never seen an accomplishment like that in a horse.

DC: Mack Lobell was the best horse you drove?

JC: I thought so. He is still the only horse to win the Elitlopp in Sweden at four. He came back and won it again at six. That was some going as we race them hard at two and three in the States.

DC: I would like to ask you about some American stallions which came to stand at stud in Ireland. I believe you drove all three.

Sable Matters - JC: I can’t remember a lot about him. He may have been trained by Ron Waples.

Driven By Design - JC: I drove him for Joe Holloway. A lovely horse to drive, great gaited. He was just below top class but I liked him.

Share The Delight - JC: He ran third when Art Official upset Some Beach Somewhere. Linda Toscano trained him, we were delighted.

DC: Some funny things go on between drivers in a race. Can you remember any funny incidents?

JC: This was very funny, but could have ended in a crash. Bill [O’Donnell] was at the height of his career. He was sitting in second, I’m in third and Herve Filion is behind me in fourth. Bill was watching myself and Herve like a hawk.

He didn’t want to get boxed in – his horse was full of trot.

Anyway, Bill is so busy watching me. He is half in, half out. So he doesn’t notice his horse puts in a high stride and gets his hoof stuck in the forks of the sulky in front. Both Herve and I are yelling to Bill to pay attention but he can’t hear us.

By some miracle Bill’s horse stayed trotting on three legs for a few strides. Somehow the hoof works loose, the horse doesn’t miss a beat. Bill gets out anyway and wins easily enough. He didn’t know how close we were to a pile up, but Herve and I had some view of things.

DC: What are the main issues affecting US racing?

JC: The recent arrests (drug use). I think it’s a good thing that this investigation came off and it’s ongoing. Participants and bettors deserve this to be exposed.

I believe the rules regarding whip use will continue to tighten. In some states you are now allowed ‘wrist action only’. The public do not want to see a man raising his hand above his head to strike a horse.

DC: Two tips for our young drivers reading this?

JC: When you go on the track, remember that we all want to win but more than that we all want to get back safe.

Also, when things don’t go well in a race, leave it on the track.

If a guy pisses you off in a race, don’t go looking for revenge as it will affect your driving.