Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — Sam King didn’t know it at the time, but as he grew up driving a horse and buggy through the sprawling Pennsylvania Dutch farmlands, he was actually doing some career training.

King was one of nine children raised in a traditional Amish family, where electricity and cars are shunned in favor of living off what nature man-made craftsmanship provides. As he got older, Sam started to realize he wanted to stake his claim outside the borders of his hometown of New Holland, Pa., and replace the buggy with a sulky and the farm horse with a Standardbred.

Sam King celebrates in the winner’s circle after his first career driving victory. Photo courtesy of Sam King.

One thing led to another and on Sept. 14 at Saratoga Casino Hotel the 20-year-old King claimed his first career driving victory in a $6,000 Billings Series amateur race. He had only begun driving last year and had three uneventful races but was slightly ahead of the game due to his upbringing.

“Yes, it did help a little,” he said. “But it took some drives before I was comfortable with speed, if that makes any sense.”

It makes complete sense, as the horses roaming the roads of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County often never get quicker than a plod. Still, King had a feel of what it was like to control a horse once he started in harness racing.

He has adjusted to the speed this year, notching two seconds and four thirds before gaining his first win in his 12th start of the season with a gelding owned by Thomas McTygue and trained by Michelle Crawford.

Bestowed with the nickname Sam “The Man” by Billings publicist legend John Manzi, King drove Windsun Missile to an easy victory in 1:57. He was even with Joe Faraldo after one quarter, pulled ahead by the halfway point and pulled away after three-quarters.

“I drove the (same) horse in the amateur race three weeks earlier,” King said. “He can leave the (starting) car real fast. I left with him and I sat in the two hole and I got locked in the first time. When I went with him this last start, I just kept driving on. I just stayed on the outside. I kept right on driving and then I got around him at the corner and from there I backed him down a little until the half and just pulled away from there. He did it all on his own.”

It was one of those rare occasions where a driver can start to revel in their first victory while the race was still playing out.

“When I was coming off the backside it went through my mind then that I had a good shot of winning,” King said. “Coming around the last turn I knew I had it. I just kept pulling away and he felt strong. I had all the horse I wanted.”

As he came across the finish line, it became tough to compartmentalize everything.

“I really didn’t know what to think,” King said. “It was the greatest thing ever. I had friends that came out to the winner’s circle. I was shaking the whole time I was out there. It was a good shake.”

It was a nice treat for a guy whose birthday is the day before Halloween, and he has learned a few tricks in dealing with horses ever since his dad started him cleaning water buckets at age 5.

The Kings had four horses on their farm and Sam always had a special feeling toward them. As he got older, he began breaking young horses and eventually got some Standardbreds to break. At age 17, he met trainer Cliff Green, who began taking King to nearby Pocono and Harrah’s Philadelphia.

“He was the first one that took me to the track; he helped me out with the babies,” King said. “At that time, I didn’t have my driver’s license. I was just helping him in the paddock, stuff like that. I was also shoeing horses at the time and I met a good friend of mine, an Amish blacksmith from Pennsylvania that comes up to Saratoga to shoe horses. He helped me get started with racehorses as far as shoeing. I was coming up here to Saratoga with him, he was shoeing for Mark Beckwith.”

Beckwith was so impressed with King, that he offered him a job as a groom. Sam jumped at the opportunity and does a little bit of everything for Beckwith, whose idea it was to get his groom in the sulky.

“Mark got me started with driving,” King said. “One day he asked me if I’d be interested in it. I said, ‘I never tried it, but I’ll give it a shot.’ He helped me get started, getting my license, he got all the qualifying drives I needed. From there it was just the right people at the right time, I guess.”

That is also how he described the situation for his first victory after not winning in his first 14 starts.

“I knew it was just a matter of time,” King said. “I never really got frustrated. It was just more I knew that the right time, right horse, right place it would happen.”

So far, King has only driven at Saratoga, where he now lives, and Pompano. He has no drives planned in the immediate future but wouldn’t mind making driving a part of his career.

“Right now, I’m kind of taking it as it comes,” he said. “If it were to get to that point I had the chance, I would be a trainer and a driver. I can’t see myself being just a driver. I’d like to do both.”