Amateur Driver of the Year Scott Keppler is living the dream
by Debbie Little
For Scott Keppler, a dream delayed was not a dream denied.
“I often tell people if you could go back to your childhood dream, and sometimes I’ll use the example of playing professional sports or something like that, you generally will never have that opportunity to even come close to that as you get older,” Keppler said. “But I’m actually able to experience it in a real way. So, I’ve been given this incredible gift in life where I can go back and relive all the things and sights and sounds and smells from when I was a teenager, up through when, in my early 20s, I was dreaming of what it was I wanted to do. I’m realizing that now in my 50s. So, it’s really surreal in some regard, you know. And I couldn’t be happier.”
Keppler, 59, was just selected as the U.S. Harness Writers Association (USHWA) Amateur Driver of the Year for 2025 in a vote conducted by USHWA with the amateur driving clubs.
The New Jersey native, who now resides in Ridgefield, CT, discovered harness racing at a young age when his dad moved their family to Upstate New York.
“I grew up on a 50-acre horse farm about 30 miles from Vernon Downs,” Keppler said. “My family purchased the farm when I was 3 years old. I learned everything from breeding, we stood a stallion, foaled our mares, then broke the ones we kept.”
According to Keppler, owning a horse farm was the dream of his dad, Richard, who, unfortunately, didn’t know anything about horses.
“So, he basically bought the Care and Training of the Trotter and Pacer, and started teaching himself,” Scott said. “And while he was doing that, I was, like, say, 10 years old, so I could read that as well. So, we kind of learned together.
“After high school, I attended SUNY-Morrisville and graduated from their standardbred racing program and raced horses at the New York fairs. After graduation, I worked for a stable for a year, decided it may not be for me, and returned to college.”
Scott graduated with a degree in finance, got an MBA, and then found himself in the software business. And for about 20 years, he said he didn’t think about the horses.
In the late 2000s, Scott got involved again as part of the VIP Stable, owning pieces of a bunch of horses. Eventually, he noticed the amateur races, that back in the ‘80s were infrequent and had small purses, but now went for good money and were popping up on a regular basis.
“So, I started getting my own horses and working with trainers so that I could see what it felt like again, and it was like riding a bike,” Scott said. “It was like I was 12 years old all over again. And it’s just been a great ride ever since. And I’ve gotten more and more involved, and I think now I always average between six and nine horses myself, and, yeah, it’s really grown for me. It’s a big part of my life right now.”
Scott currently owns six horses and employs multiple trainers.
“I have three trainers right now, and all that’s based on the needs of the horse,” he said. “Each trainer is not only a little bit different geography-wise, but they bring something different to the table. For example, one of my trainers is Raheim Strong, he’s stabled at Monticello Raceway. So, for horses that are okay being at the track, Raheim does a great job, but for horses that need to be at a farm, I would generally move them to Jose Godinez, who trains at Golden Shoe Farm in New York. The horses can swim, they go out in the paddock every day, it’s a different kind of vibe… And then I also work with Joe Pavia, Jr. in Pennsylvania. I had horses with Joe before I started driving, and now that I started to get involved in the Pocono amateur driving club this year, I got a trotter with Joe, and we had a couple of wins… so I can have horses that are focused in Pennsylvania as well as the New York, New Jersey circuit.”
In addition to competing in the Meadowlands Amateur Driving Club, Scott also drives with the American Harness Drivers Club at Pocono, EWEY Driving Club at Monticello, Southern Tier Amateur Club at Tioga Downs, and the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) at both Monticello and Yonkers.
As the 2025 USHWA Amateur Driver of the Year, Scott will have the honor of representing the U.S. in the 2026 World Championship for Amateur Drivers (World Cup) in Malta.
“We’re pleased that he was chosen because he has demonstrated the ability to drive different horses for different people that were assigned to him at Monticello,” said NAADA president Joe Faraldo. “In other words, he didn’t pick the horses that he got to drive that gave him the UDRS [of .228]. He was asked to drive horses on the spot while he happened to be at Monticello Raceway and didn’t know what he was getting up behind and did very well with them.”
On days when Scott competes at his home track of Monticello, in addition to driving ones that he owns, the judges often ask him to fill in and drive someone else’s horse when they are short of drivers. Scott said he thinks competing against pros, whether driving his own horse or someone else’s, always teaches him something.
Of his 320 starts so far this year, 70 were in amateur races. His 13-7-11 record against just amateurs would yield a UDR of .294 and an outstanding on-the-board percentage of 44.
Richard didn’t live long enough to see Scott join the amateur ranks in 2020, but Scott said he knows his dad would be proud of how far he’s come in the business.
“He’s definitely seen me drive but never at all at this level,” Scott said. “He passed before that, unfortunately, but he’s with me every day. You know, I wouldn’t be here without his enthusiasm. He had this saying, ‘Well, why not us?’ And my interest in harness racing was just something that he would definitely help push forward, and he certainly made things available to me, and without that, I wouldn’t have had the energy and enthusiasm to pursue things such as I have, not coming from a family in the industry. So yeah, I owe a lot of it to his enthusiasm and the support that he gave me as a youngster, and I think about him all the time.
“He’d be thrilled with the success that I’ve had and the quality of trotters that I’ve been able to drive and own. Being able to compete at The Meadowlands, Yonkers, Monticello, all these different tracks, this is not lost on me at all. This is very exciting for me… I’ve got a long history of not only being a fan, but growing up a little bit on a farm and trying to learn. But now, being part of it, it’s really given me a very deep understanding of what pros go through, and being an owner, you know, the ups and downs that go with that. It just gives me a nice break from my business life, and that’s what I really relish. And everybody in my community is kind of jealous at the fact that I’ve got this passion that I’m able to follow, and it keeps me young and healthy and vibrant, and I love it.”
