(Jonathan Drury won three Ontario Sires Stakes Gold events and a Somebeachsomewhere division this year driving Betting Line – New Image Media photo)
by Dave Briggs
Jonathan Drury isn’t sure Betting Line has changed his life, exactly, but the young driver believes that horse has certainly led to some golden opportunities such as the one Saturday night (Oct. 15) at Mohawk when Drury scored his biggest career victory piloting Arsenal Seelster to a 46-1 upset in the $250,000 Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) Super Final for two-year-old pacing colts at Mohawk.
“I’ve never won anything like that and it was unexpected,” Drury said. “I was just hoping I could race (Arsenal Seelster) along and things would unfold enough where I could close and get a piece. He blew right by them there, which was very surprising.”
Getting to train Betting Line for Coleman in the mornings and drive the outstanding three-year-old pacing colt whenever New Jersey-based Hall of Famer David Miller couldn’t make it to Ontario, has been the thrill of a lifetime for the 27-year-old Drury. He said he has never sat behind a better horse in his nine-year driving career.
“It seems like there’s no bottom to him. There’s been times that even when I’ve driven him that I thought, ‘It’s going to be tough to catch them from here’ and he does it from ease. He knows where the wire is and he wants to get there first,” Drury said of the pacer who posted his 14
th straight victory Saturday winning his Super Final with Miller aboard.
Drury drove Betting Line six times in 2016. The pacer, a son of Bettor’s Delight out of Heather’s Western, earned $212,000 with Drury at the controls.
“I had never won any (OSS) Golds or anything like that until I got to drive him this year. I got to win the Somebeachsomewhere with him and three Golds,” Drury said. “That was quite an experience. I think when people can see you can drive a horse like that, or someone gives you a chance to drive a horse like that, it kind of leads to more opportunity.”
As well as training horses for Coleman in the morning and driving some of them at night, Drury said getting the first call on many horses for trainer Carmen Auciello likely led to the drive on Arsenal Seelster for trainer Colin Johnson.
“I picked up a lot of different horses that somebody maybe picked off. Maybe I wouldn’t have got to drive them a year ago, but I’m kind of an option for them when they needed somebody this year,” said Drury, who has posted career-best earnings this year already with $2.5 million to his credit. Lifetime, Drury has won a little more than 1,000 races in more than 8,400 attempts. His career earnings are just shy of $12 million.
Yet, no horse he’s driven has come close to Betting Line, who has earned nearly $1.7 million this year and more than $2.2 million lifetime.
“I’ve driven a lot of horses and he’s unbelievable,” Drury said. “It’s really fun. When you tip him out, it’s just like a blur going by them. It’s crazy.
“Everything about him is impressive. He’s an unbelievable animal and I’ve never sat behind anything like him.”
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