Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Driver of the Month
for December 2006

Jason Dillander

Charles "Jason" Dillander is one of many young drivers who has chosen to make the Windy City his home base as a catch driver. Born on January 12, 1976, Jason began driving harness horses seriously in 1998 and since then has amassed nearly $5 million in career purses and should hit the 1,000 win plateau in 2007.

TheQuietMon

Jason & The Quiet Mon

Jason Dillander

Jason--who resides in Beecher, Illinois--struck the big time in 2006 when he was teamed with the sensational freshman standout, The Quiet Mon. The 30-year-old, 5'10" reinsman also scored one of his biggest nights when he captured an American National event--besting one of the continent’s best freshman pacers---and also drove a top trotter to victory.

On November 11 at Balmoral Park, Jason was in the sulky behind The Quiet Mon, as he guided him to best the highly favored Home Bed Advantage in the $135,000 American National Freshman Colt & Gelding Pace. Dillander had The Quiet Mon at the helm of the field of ten and held off Home Bed Advantage (Ryan Anderson) in the late going to prevail by two and a quarter lengths in a lifetime best of 1:51.2.

"I wanted to keep ahead of Home Bed Advantage this start, and I thought it was an easier task given the post that Home Bed Advantage had (post nine)," Jason noted. "I looked back at the start and saw where Ryan was and I decided that I needed to be on the lead then and there. At that point I could see that from the way the race was lining up, Ryan would have to come first over and I thought that would take the sting out of his horse a little bit. The race couldn't have worked out more perfectly for my horse, who was strong all the way to the wire."
The Quiet Mon led at nearly every post through fractions of :27, :55.4 and 1:24.1, pushing his career earnings to $162,600. Home Bed Advantage—who raced most of the mile first-over—finished second in his first ever defeat, with Active Trading (Sam Widger) third.

"The Quiet Mon is just perfect in every way," Jason explained. "You’d swear you were driving an aged pacer when you sit behind him. He’s straight as a string in the bike, and if you just touch his mouth lightly he’ll come right back to you."

The win was Dillander’s second American National victory as he had previously won the $250,000 Three-Year-Old Colt Pace with Gold Dust Beach on July 30, 2005 in 1:51.2.

Later on in that evening’s card Dillander steered Berto Primo to a 1:55.1 victory in the $57,000 Hanover Stake for sophomore trotting colts and geldings. It was the first win in this division for Dillander.

"I had driven this horse at Lexington and he had been sick during that time," Dillander recalled. "Tonight he was right on his game and just great to drive. I didn’t really need to pull the ear plugs, but when I did, he just took off with a blast of speed."

Against only six rivals, Berto Primo took the lead just past the half and cruised through a :56.2 half and a 1:26 three-quarter clocking. Mystic Glide (Duke Sugg) was a well earned second with Loving Every Moment (Charlie Norris) third.

"Berto Primo can be a little funny about his mouth," Dillander said. "He’s the type of horse that is way more comfortable on the front end and he really doesn’t like to get jammed up in a hole. If you have to take a tight hold of him, that’s when you can get into trouble. He’s a very nice-gaited trotter, however."

Just one week later Jason piloted The Quiet Mon to win the $120,000 Abe Lincoln Stake at Maywood Park in 1:54.4.

Jason Dillander's Career Statistics through December 1, 2006
Year    Starts   Wins    2nds   3rds     Earnings        UDRS
2006      1437      124      153     154      $1,071,745       .181
2005      1468      144      134      162      $1,234,546      .186
2004       701       50        70        69      $503,505        .160
2003      762       61        67        98      $656,190        .172
2002       646      67       77        65      $551,073        .203
2001       947      145      104        98      $319,272        .249
2000       612      68        71        55      $229,937        .206
1999        727      119      112        91      $310,609        .291
1998        103      19        13        17      $33,431          .310
Totals                797                           $4,910,308

2006 Archives
November: Ryan Anderson
October: Stephane Bouchard
September: Dean Magee
August: Mike Lachance
July: Sam Widger
June: Yannick Gingras
May: Rick Zeron
March: George Brennan
February: Brent Holland
January: Mark MacDonald