by Debbie Little

Justin Irvine is a well-established talent back home at Ohio’s Northfield Park. He is sitting second in the driver standings behind perennial kingpin Aaron Merriman.

But, when Northfield Park mainstays Merriman and Ron Wrenn, Jr. suggested Irvine should give The Meadowlands a shot, the just-turned 23-year-old took their advice.

“Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. was out [at The Meadowlands] and he won a Breeders Crown, and he told me ‘Hey, you know, a lot of them guys are going to leave town for the winter, and you’re doing pretty well here [at Northfield], but if you ever kind of wanted to maybe try and get your name out there, you’d only miss one day here if you wanted to go,’” Irvine said. “And, so I was like, ‘Well, you know what? I guess you’re right. I guess maybe I should.’ So, I got hold of [racing secretary] Scott Warren… and, I just ended up getting a couple of drives and then I just got lucky in a couple of spots.”

In the past several years, many of The Big M’s top drivers have chosen to take time off during New Jersey’s colder months, which has opened up opportunities for young drivers to step into the spotlight on harness racing’s biggest stage.

“It wasn’t like that when I was starting,” Merriman said of the top Meadowlands drivers taking so much time off. “I said, ‘You don’t have to go out there driving the best horses. Get out there and get different experiences. It’s a different racetrack, it’s different racing. And it gets your name out there like, ‘Oh, who’s this guy, who’s this guy?’ You’re going to go out there and you’re going to get the opportunity to drive some horses’ and I think it’s an absolutely phenomenal idea for him.

“I said, ‘Do it now when you don’t have a family.’ I said, ‘It’s just you, bud, get out there and do these things. It’s very, very important for you.’ And it’s going to help him, believe me. The more experience you get, the better.”

As the sport’s long-time national dash champ, Merriman has seen a lot and has been only too happy to share his opinion with Irvine when asked.

“I think it’s very, very nice and I feel flattered to even be able to have the opportunity to give him advice,” Merriman said. “Because a lot of guys, younger guys, don’t take it either. It’s a much different generation.”

Merriman said that Irvine is just as good at taking criticism as he is at taking praise.

Merriman gave a little tough love to Irvine following an incident earlier this year in May when the young driver threw his broken whip into the infield at Northfield Park. An action that Irvine immediately said he regretted.

“I told him knock it off because that kind of stuff, that carries with you,” Merriman said. “That’s why I say, when you don’t do it again and you say, ‘Okay, well, I learned from that. I don’t want to be that,’ to me that’s maturity. I mean, he’s mature beyond his years.”

Since premiering at The Meadowlands in early November, Irvine has gotten noticed.

He had eight drives on his first card and the following week, on his second, he had 10 which included his first two Big M victories.

Trainer Frank Calcagni used Irvine for the first time on Keystone Apache on Nov. 8, when they finished fourth.

“I just happened to get put on [Calcagni’s] horse the week before and he raced really well from the outside, so he put me back down again,” Irvine said. “And, I thought he factored in there, especially the way he raced the week before. And Frank told me, ‘He drew in this week and he can race any way you want and he’s usually pretty good if you can get him to the front.’

Irvine said he remembers immediately moving Keystone Apache off the gate on Nov. 15.

“I didn’t care if I was on the front or in the 2-hole, I thought he could win that race and he just barely got there, but, I mean, it doesn’t say that on the paycheck,” Irvine said with a laugh.

Just seven drives later, Irvine was reunited with an old friend.

“I used to have the horse, I used to train National Sport, probably three years ago, 2.5 years ago,” Irvine said.

National Sport is currently trained by Bill MacKenzie, a friend of Irvine’s brother Brad. The trainer had called Justin prior to claiming the horse earlier this year.

“I know that the horse was in a spot where he could win and yeah, I mean, that would have been cool to be my first win just because I really did like that horse when I had him before he got claimed off of me,” Justin said. “He’s got a good personality and is nice to work with, but it was still cool to just win with him.”

In just 58 starts, Justin has recorded a respectable seven wins, prompting Meadowlands TV host Dave Little to say, “He’s one of the younger guys that you can pick with confidence.”

Although not even two full months into his stint at The Meadowlands, the third-generation horseman from Aurora, OH already has a plan in his head should everything continue to work out for him at the East Rutherford, NJ mile oval.

“It will be Sundays at Northfield,” Justin said. “Mondays we have off, but I still go to the barn because my dad and I have horses. Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Northfield and I’ll fly out [to The Meadowlands] more than likely sometime in the afternoon, early evening on Thursdays after I go to the barn again on Thursday, to help my dad, and then drive here Friday, Saturday and then fly back Sunday morning and that will be pretty much my whole week.”

Even though his schedule is currently quite full, Justin wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

“I mean, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for Christmas shopping right now, I’ll tell you that,” Justin said with a laugh. “But I don’t mind it, I like racing horses. I like going to the barn and I like doing all of it.

“It kind of sucks when it gets cold out, but it’s what I wanted to do, so it doesn’t even feel like work really.”

Justin is having a career year — 2,206 starts, 294 wins and $2,556,210 in earnings — that he is most appreciative of.

“I didn’t think that this year would go how it has, to be honest with you,” Justin said. “I thought a realistic goal would be to do a quarter better than what I did last year. So, like a million and three in earnings and maybe 150 wins or 140 wins, you know, just add like 25 per cent to all my totals. And like you said, I’ve pretty much doubled them in every single category or more.”

Justin said there are a lot of people he’d like to recognize for being in his corner.

“I mean, first off, definitely my mom and my dad,” Justin said. “My dad’s my biggest critic, but he’s my biggest fan and my mom, she’s just my number one supporter, even if I drive bad, she doesn’t care.”

Although he hasn’t been racing at The Meadowlands long, Justin spoke appreciatively of all those that have trusted him to drive their horses. He also mentioned his long-time close buddy Braxten Boyd who has been very supportive of his choice to come east.

“I thought Justin would fit in well,” Boyd said. “A lot of young drivers drive here in the winter and a lot of people like to give younger guys opportunities during this time out here and I thought he would fit because from the moment I met him he’s always had a great set of hands on the track and gotten better every day.”

Justin also pointed out that the fact that his girlfriend, Jessica Otten, works at The Meadowlands is a bonus in terms of them spending time together.

“I think everybody wants to drive at The Meadowlands or at any of the big tracks, but The Meadowlands is definitely at the top of the list,” Justin said. “But her being out here just makes it a lot easier for both of us.”

Justin couldn’t talk enough about how supportive all the drivers at his home track of Northfield Park have been since he practically grew up there. His father Don Irvine, Jr. is on Northfield’s Wall of Fame.

“I think [Justin’s] very, very talented,” Merriman said. “He’s definitely beyond his years on the track. That’s my opinion. He doesn’t use the whip much for a young guy. He’s been kind of thrust into a very good position of driving a lot of horses, and I think that helps a lot.”

Merriman also mentioned some more advice that he gave Justin.

“I said, ‘Listen, you’re Justin Irvine, you’re not your father, who was a great driver down here [at Northfield],’” Merriman said. “I said, ‘You’re going to make your own path.’ I keep telling him, make your own path, that’s what I tell him all the time. I said, ‘You’ve got your own greatness; be yourself, make your own path.’”