by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — It was almost too perfect. A driver named Shawn who has four-leaf clovers on his colors winning his first career race as a driver on St. Patrick’s Day. It sounds like a hokey movie plot, but it was as real as a pint of Guinness in Dublin.

“That made it even more special,” said 21-year-old Shawn Simons, who drove Caviart Spencer to victory at Monticello Raceway on March 17.

And it was predicted by an old friend, Eddie Sager, who called Shawn two weeks prior to the race.

“Eddie has known me since I’ve been born and he said ‘I got you your first winner at Monticello,’” said Simons, the son of veteran driver Mike Simons. “I said ‘Whoa, slow down.’ We talked about the horse; he wanted me to take him so we bought the horse.”

Shawn Simons and Wheres The Clicker, a 5-year-old trotting gelding co-owned by his father.

The price was $3,000 for the 9-year-old, although Simons had no idea he was that old.

“I actually didn’t even ask for his age,” Shawn said. “I kept asking him is there anything wrong with him that I’d have to work on. He said ‘I wouldn’t sell you a bad horse,’ and I said ‘You got me there,’ so I was pretty confident in this horse.

“I walked into the barn the next day and saw this horse and I said ‘Wow, he’s small!’ But he’s a great racehorse. He’s got a weird attitude, he’s kind of bashful, but he can race.”

Shortly thereafter, as millions of Americans dined on corned beef and cabbage, Caviart Spencer raced in fourth place throughout much of his race, following the outside cover of favorite One Shark Road and driver Jimmy Taggart after the half-mile point before going three wide on the final turn.

“It was the best of luck for (One Shark Road) to go first up so I could follow him,” Simons said. “I was following him and about halfway at the end of the turn I’m thinking ‘Wow I can actually be in this race up until the end.’

“Right before the head of the stretch, I got after him and I’m yelling at him and I’m feeling it. And then I realize I didn’t pop the (ear)plugs yet. So I popped the plugs and I go by Taggart, and I hear the announcer say ‘Can Shawn Simons finally get his first Monticello win?’ and when I heard that my adrenaline just went right through the roof and I’m like ‘Yeah I can,’ and I just kept driving him. I was just so energetic and gave a little fist pump at the end.”

As he came across the finish line, Shawn experienced something he never felt before.

“It was such a weird feeling; a good feeling,” he said. “It kind of felt like you shed your skin and you break through your skin and you’re reborn. My skin was like…it was crazy.”

It turned out that Scotty Bicum, a groom for the Simons at their Big Z Farms in Montague, N.J., had a good feeling before the race considering what day it was.

“Scotty kept saying ‘It’s St. Paddy’s Day, you might get ’em kid,’” Simons said, who won at odds of 38-1. “And then afterwards we said ‘Of course it’s St. Paddy’s Day and we’re gonna win.’ It was just perfect timing, just a great day.”

Mike Simons was right there to take it all in.

“I thought he was kind of getting emotional,” Shawn said. “He got out of the cart and they all had smiles on their faces and he was like ‘I knew you could do it kid.’ My dad gave me a big hug, it was a great picture.”

Shawn had 21 drives before getting his first driving victory, to go along with 15 wins as a trainer.

“It’s a much more intense feeling when you win as a driver,” Simons said.

Photos courtesy of Shawn Simons

Shawn Simons won his first race as a driver on March 17.

Shawn has spent a lifetime around the sport. He grew up at Pocono Downs, where the Simons were stabled for years.

“I just hung around the horses all the time in the summer time, whenever I wasn’t in school,” he said. “On summer nights I would just run all around the grandstand all night long.”

At age 14 he asked his dad if he could work the paddocks at Tioga Downs because he could get a groom’s license in New York at that age. At age 17 he began working with his dad on a few horses at Pocono Downs.

“That’s where I learned most of my stuff,” he said.

Two years later Shawn moved up to the Big Z where he has worked ever since. He began actual hands-on training at age 18 and still has the first horse he trained with and drove behind.

“Me and my dad trained him on the main track at Pocono Downs,” Shawn said. “I got on the bike and it was actually pretty fun. The horse did all the work. It’s not like racing, you only have to deal with one other horse. In racing you have to deal with six or seven others.

“He said ‘How’d you like it,’ and I said, ‘It was easy.’ He said ‘Did you like it?’ I said ‘Yeah,’ and I just kept going from there.”

Firmly entrenched in the sport, Shawn wants to continue to train and drive. He and Mike have 16 horses at the Big Z, with Mike owning half of them and Shawn owning quarters to halves of four or five.

“I hope I can become more of a popular driver so I can also catch drive for other people as well,” he said. “I’m looking to get a couple more wins under my belt. We like Tioga, we always race at Tioga. I’m hoping to become a little bit of a catch driver there, if not this summer than next summer.”

And if at all possible, he’ll look to get back in the sulky on St. Patrick’s Day from this point on.

After all, there may just be something to this luck of the Irish thing.