by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — The year ends in 13, but it has been filled with good fortune for Allan Davis so far.

Son of the legendary Eddie Davis — the first harness racing figure to be inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame — Allan is starting to realize success as a driver after years of paying his dues.

“I’ve been doing good the last three years, but I’ve had a really, really good start this year,” the Smyrna, Del., resident said. “I think it’s going to be a really good year because I’m off to a great start. I’m having success driving for good people, driving for good stables and good trainers. That’s what it takes.”

Davis ranks No. 14 in North American earnings ($419,858) and is tied for No. 16 in wins (43). He is third in the win standings at Dover Downs for the current meet and has 691 career wins.

Allan Davis is off to a super start in 2013, ranking in the top 20 in North America in both wins and earnings.

Last year he won 193 races and earned $1.85 million, and in 2011 won 207 races and $1.97 million. Prior to those years, he served mainly as a trainer for his dad, who put harness racing in Allan’s blood at an early age.

“He was a very big influence,” Allan said of the man who has 8,631 career victories and was the leading driver at Dover Downs nine times. “When I first got out of (Smyrna) high school I was at the barn all the time. He showed me the ins and outs.

“We would sit down and watch races together and went over the races. He would be like ‘If they had done this they might have won,’ things like that. We’d sit through tracks together during those years. He was really good for me and he’s really good at what he does.”

Davis went right into the family business from high school, although he did have other options after becoming the first baseball player in Smyrna High School history to earn All-State honors as an outfielder (which he did twice).

“I had opportunities to go to some schools for baseball,” he said. “But when horses are in your blood, once you start doing it there’s no way out.”

It was the same for his brothers. Eddie Davis Jr. has won 3,925 races, Martin Davis is a trainer and Allan’s son, Tyler, has just started driving.

“We have two sisters, but they’re not with the horses,” Allan said with a laugh. “It’s the boys. When you’re in the business when you’re young, you’re stuck. It’s been a long struggle for me. But it’s turning around the last three years.”

It sure has.

Allan has long wanted to be a catch driver, but out of loyalty to his dad he trained horses for Eddie Sr. and has 347 career wins as a trainer.

“I was kind of in a spot working for my dad and training his horses,” he said. “We had a good stable of horses toward the end of his career, but then we lost some owners and the stable was going south and his driving was going south so I thought I’d take a shot at catch driving.”

Fotowon photos

Allan Davis won the $30,000 Delaware Special on Jan. 24 with Nova Artist, a horse trained by his brother Martin and owned by his parents.

In 2004, Allan and a buddy went to Monticello and, although only there for several months, promptly won the Rising Star Award from the Monticello-Goshen chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association. He brought several claimers with him from Harrington.

“We had a bunch of good horses,” said Davis, who just turned 37 on Feb. 3. “We put them in where we could win so we’d look good, and it worked.”

A Delaware man at heart, Davis returned home and found he was suddenly a hot commodity.

“People started putting me up,” he said. “It was crazy how it worked. I couldn’t get drives from anybody around here, but I left and did good. When I came back I started picking up little stables. Started going with them and it just took off.”

It was slow but steady progress for a few years.

“I had my own little stable when I came back,” Allan said. “I raced at Harrington and Yonkers during the weekend. It was still a grind after Monticello, but I started getting four or five drives a night.”

Things exploded in 2011 when Davis hooked up with trainer Rosemary Smutz. He then caught the eye of renowned Delaware trainer Wayne Givens.

“It was a struggle at first, like it always is for most people,” Davis said. “I drove a $7,500 claimer for Rosemary Smutz, the horse raced really good and from there on I started driving numerous horses for them.

“After that I started picking up other people. That’s what it takes. You get one and start winning races with their horses, and other people see you winning races and the next thing you know you’re driving for everybody.”

When “everybody” includes Givens, it’s a plus. Givens is third in the trainer standings for the current Dover meet and finished third last season. He is one of the all-time winningest trainers at Harrington, where he was first during last spring’s meet and second in the fall.

“Picking up Rosemary got me started,” Davis said. “Picking up Wayne Givens really jump started me. That was a big key. Wayne has a bunch more horses so I try to stick with him as much as I can.”

And although it was a brief stay in Monticello back in ’04, the success Davis had up there has lasting repercussions.

“That helped,” he said. “When you’re winning races, it gives you hope that maybe you can do something at this.”

Hope has turned into reality, especially this season.

Davis won 78 races at Dover Downs from November 2011 to April in 2012. His goal for this season was to surpass that total.

In mid-February, he has already done that with 88 wins.

“I’ve kind of set the goal a little higher now,” he said. “I set a goal to win like, 20 races a month at Dover. It’s tough there. Ron Pierce is there, Tim Tetrick comes down a few days a week. It’s a little tougher than racing at Harrington.”

Davis has been equal to the tough challenge, as years of learning his craft has made 13 his lucky number this year.