A conversation with fourth-generation horseman Joe Bongiorno
by Murray Brown
Joe Bongiorno belongs to a rare fraternity. He is one of the very few, perhaps its only member, who is both a trainer/driver of a large stable and also a fourth-generation active horseman.
I was privileged to have known his great grandfather Harold R. Dancer, who died before Joe was born. Harold, Sr., as he was known, was as good a horseman as these eyes have ever seen. Stanley Dancer, Harold’s brother and the best known and most successful of the three Dancer brothers (Harold, Vernon, and Stanley) has said, more than once, that of the three brothers, his oldest brother Harold, was the best all-around horseman, perhaps even the very best all-around horseman that he had ever known.
If Harold had a fault, it was perhaps that he might have been the most demanding yearling shopper that I’ve ever known. His less-than-open pocketbook and his discerning eye often prevented him from getting the horses that he liked the most.
It’s a somewhat well-known story that if not for the vagaries of fate, Harold, not Stanley, might have been the trainer of the horse that became Nevele Pride. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Quin had been long-time patrons of the Harold Dancer stable. They had raised a beautiful Stars Pride colt out of their Hoot Mon mare Thankful that Harold had trained and raced for them.
The original plan was for Harold to become the trainer for Thankful’s yearling. However, Mr. Quin was in very poor health and the Quins were not in the position to become its racing owners. The Quins asked if Harold had an owner who might be interested in buying Thankfuls Star. The price was $20,000. Harold said that he really liked the colt, but that unfortunately at the time, he didn’t have an owner who might be interested. He asked if it was all right if he contacted his brother Stanley to see if he might have some interest. Stanley did and he bought the colt then named Thankfuls Star for Ben and Julius Slutsky. Thus, Thankfuls Star became Nevele Pride and the rest is history.
Harold’s son was Harold J. Dancer, Joe’s grandfather, also known as Sonny. He was also a very accomplished horseman during the Golden Years of the New York metropolitan tracks of Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceways and the roaring western tracks of the Grand Circuit. Sonny’s sister was Lois Dancer, who became Lois Simpson, the wife of Hall of Famer John Simpson, Jr.
Sonny Dancer’s daughter, Barbara, Joe Bongiorno’s mother, married horseman Bob Bongiorno, who now “rides” in the mornings for his son Joe. In addition to Joe, they have a daughter, Jenn, now retired from training, who in her own history was the trainer of one of the leading stables in the Northeast.
We are now at 32-year-old Joe Bongiorno, the scion of one of harness racing’s leading active stables.
Tell us about your stable. How many do you have in training? How are they made up?
“Right now we have 55 head in training. Sixteen of them are 2-year-olds. The rest are 3-year-olds and older horses. We are stabled here at Gaitway Farm in New Jersey. We race most of the older horses at The Meadowlands and at Yonkers. The stakes horses or those that we hope will become stakes horses will race mostly in the New York Sires Stakes with a sprinkling in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We look mostly for New York sires eligibles in our yearling shopping.”
You were almost literally born into your destiny in becoming a horseman. How did that evolve?
“Of course, I was always around the stables and the horses. However, I really didn’t take much of an interest in getting involved until I was 13. It was at that time when I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life. In my first job, I worked for Buzzy Sholty in my mid-to-late teens. He started me at the bottom of the ladder. I did a lot of stall cleaning and rubbing on horses before he allowed me to ride. I realized how much I loved it. I began to participate in amateur racing. Before too long, without perhaps sounding like a braggart, I thought that I was a better driver than most of those guys. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I had a future in the game.’”
From there?
“I went to work for Mark Beckwith in Saratoga. It was there that I received the greatest education to where I feel I am now a better than decent horse trainer. Most people don’t realize how great a horseman Mark Beckwith is, and, of course, he is also a great sire. His son Brett is one of the great young drivers in harness racing today. Take it from me, Mark is one of the very best horsemen there is. It was while I was at Saratoga that I first became involved with Ronnie Burke. I was getting drives while up there and doing fairly decently. Somehow, I must have come to the attention of Ronnie Burke. He started putting me down to drive on some of his better Saturday horses. We did fairly well and won more than our share of those races. Can you imagine? Me a young kid, barely into my 20s, being a catch driver for the most successful and dominating stable our breed has ever known. I was truly living the good life.”
Then?
“My sister Jenn was starting her stable. I went to work for her. To say that we did well would probably be an understatement. We did exceptionally well. We became big and successful. It seemed like it almost happened overnight. But like that old saying, on even the sunniest days, some rain must fall. For about a year-and-a-half, it poured in my life. I had gotten married and it just did not work out. Before too long we were divorced. I entered into a period of a year-and-a-half or so where I suffered from severe depression. Consequently, my driving suffered. I wasn’t driving well. I wasn’t doing well. In the interim, Jenn decided to retire from training. Would I be willing to take over the remainder of her stable? I thought so. Would running the stable in daytime and racing at night be too much for my then fragile state? Probably. I decided to take on the task, but only part way. I would temporarily give up my driving and concentrate my efforts solely on training the horses and managing the stable.”
Now you are back both training and driving the horses of one of harness racing more prominent stables. How did this transition come about?
“My life changed entirely for the better. I met my fiancé Nicole. We are now the parents of the greatest joy life has granted me, our almost 2-year-old son, Parker. I gradually got over my depression and slowly started driving again. I feel I am now able to handle the joint demands of training and driving better.”
Do you feel that being both a trainer and a driver gives you an edge in either discipline?
“I do. There are things that are unique to both fields. I feel I especially can translate my training experience to driving better to the benefit of the horse, our stable and of course its owners. The same to some extent applies to driving and educating myself and my clients in regard to training.”
As a driver is there any unique talent that you believe you possess?
“I don’t know how unique it is, but I believe that most of the better drivers possess the ability to suit their driving skill to the individual horse. I think I’m able to relax the horse that might be high strung. On the other end, I think I’m usually able to wake up the horse that needs help on improving his attention to the task at hand.”
What lies in the future for you in harness racing?
“Hopefully to learn more and to get better at what I do. You are never too old to learn. I am still pretty young, so hopefully I have a whole lot of learning to do.”
