Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Trainer of the Month
for December 2006

Jimmy Takter

Jimmy Takter was born in Mantorp, Sweden on September 29, 1960 and started learning the business of harness racing when he was only five years old.

He helped his father, top Swedish trainer Bo Takter, around in the barn, and drove his first winner at age 16 in Malmo, prior to coming to the United States to work for Continental Farms in 1978. After moving back to Sweden to start a family, he returned to the States for good in 1982.

Jimmy Takter

Like his contemporary Per Eriksson, Jimmy Takter worked for Soren Nordin for two years in the United States prior to beginning his own stable. He scored his first United States victory in 1983 with eventual Breeders Crown champion Baltic Speed.

Top performers for Takter include 1994 Hambletonian Oaks winner Gleam, who was driven by her owner and amateur driver, Malvern Burroughs. Takter and Burroughs, whose construction company built the Meadowlands, joined forces to take the 1997 Hambletonian with Malabar Man, who went on to be named Horse of the Year.

Takter captivated racing fans around the world with the travels and triumphs of two-time Horse of the Year Moni Maker, the richest Standardbred racehorse of all time. In 1998, she made history, winning the famed Elitlopp in Solvalla, Sweden, and major stakes in Italy and Denmark. She returned to the U.S. later that year to win the Breeders Crown and Nat Ray. In 1999, Moni Maker embarked on another successful European campaign that included a win in the Prix d’Amerique in France and a second-place finish in the Elitlopp. She retired in 2000 with career earnings of $5,589,256.

Takter’s roster of outstanding trotters also includes 2002 Trotter of the Year Kadabra and 2003 Hambletonian Oaks winner Southwind Allaire and 2004 Two-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year
Ken Warkentin. Takter set another trotting record in 2004 with Tom Ridge, who recorded the fastest race mile of all time with a 1:50.2 victory in Du Quoin’s Wolrd Trotting Derby.

Takter trains his horses at his Millenium Farm, a 100-acre property, where his family also resides in East Windsor, New Jersey. He has won nine Breeders Crown titles, most recently last year’s Two-Year-Old Filly Trot with Passionate Glide at The Meadowlands. He won with Ken Warkentin and Flirtin Miss at Woodbine in 2004. Kadabra won at Woodbine in 2002. Other champs included two-time Horse of the Year Moni Maker and Malabar Man.

Takter’s stable had a standout season in 2006. Passionate Glide started the year with 11 consecutive victories and won the Hambletonian Oaks and Kentucky Filly Futurity; Mr Feelgood won the Little Brown Jug; Pampered Princess is unbeaten in nine starts; and Armbro Dancer won the Mistletoe Shalee. He is on the verge of topping $4 million this season and ranks third among all trainers in North America, trailing only Mickey Burke and Ervin Miller.

“As far as training pacers and trotters, the best conditioning is to try to keep them happy and healthy as horses,” said Takter. “Training pacers has been exciting, breaking new ground for me. I never appreciated how big the Little Brown Jug is. I think it’s the best known race in this country. Even five or six weeks later I have people coming up to me to shake my hand because I won the Little Brown Jug. It’s amazing.”

In 1996, Takter received one of the top honors in the sport when he was named as the winner of the Glen Garnsey Trainer of the Year Award from the United States Harness Writers’ Association. During the 2000 campaign he was a co-winner of Trainer of the Year with Mark Ford.

Jimmy Takter's Career Training Statistics Through December 1, 2006
Year   Starts  Wins/2nds/3rds    Earnings         UTRS
2006      397      92      71      57      $ 4,649,347       .377
2005      368      75      57      52      $ 3,920,812      .337
2004      331      82      51      31      $ 3,806,293      .365
2003      343      58      47      48      $ 2,999,971      .292
2002      346      71      65      57      $ 3,039,553      .337
2001      374      71      65      57      $ 3,039,553      .337
2000      292      55      44      47      $ 3,099,077      .326
1999      159      23      28      11      $ 1,791,547      .266
1998      40         6        5       6       $ 391,127         .269
1997      38        10      4      4       $ 999,695         .357
1996      31         8        6       8      $ 920,885         .452
1995      41       12       8       5       $ 442,763         .442
1994      20         2      2      2      $ 83,681           .189
1993      163      34      25      24      $ 1,123,622      .343
1992      105      19      18      16      $ 684,024         .327
1991      40         8        4       7       $ 98,270           .314
Total               624                       $ 31,494,727

2006 Archives
November: Erv Miller
October: Ray Remmen
September: Carl Allen
August: Mark Ford
July: Ron Gurfein
June: Jim Dennis
May: Delvin Miller
April: Chuck Sylvester
March: Billy Haughton
February: Bill Robinson