When Jason Bartlett describes himself as competitive, he might actually be understating it.

There’s competitive and then there’s Bartlett, who admitted he was actually a bit bummed out after his record-setting harness racing performance at Bangor Raceway a week ago.

The 26-year-old Augusta native drove eight of the 10 horses he raced on May 24 to victory to break the record for wins in one racing program at Bangor Historic Track, but he was still being a bit hard on himself afterward.

“I’m a very competitive person,” Bartlett said. “That night, for instance, I was ecstatic to win eight, but I was disappointed I didn’t win 10, which is the U.S. record.”

Huh?

“Well, I could have won nine, but the horse had an equipment malfunction in the 10th race,” Bartlett explained. “To tell you the truth, I was just glad to get out of it without any injury.

“The front hobble hanger, the hobble that makes the horse stay on gait, came undone and he tripped himself. He almost went down and the guy behind me ran into my back. Luckily, there was a good driver behind me [Brent Thayer] and we got out of it without anyone getting hurt.”

So Bartlett was both lucky and good. What’s the problem?

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong. I was really happy about it,” he said with a slight chuckle. “I mean, winning three or four is a good night for most drivers.”

Bartlett – who won seven races in one week three weeks ago and eight races in a day last year, although the wins were split between Scarborough Raceway and Bangor – said he was just in a zone that night.

“It’s like a sports thing,” said the former basketball standout at Erskine Academy in South China. “It’s like scoring 50 or 60 points in a game for a basketball player. Everything goes right and you just can’t seem to do anything wrong.”

Unlike other sports, there didn’t seem to be any behavior borne of superstition going on with fellow drivers. In baseball, teammates and coaches never make any mention of a no-hitter when a pitcher is flirting with throwing one. There was no such gag order with the drivers that Thursday night.

“After I won about five or six, they were starting to talk about me tying the U.S. record,” Bartlett said with a laugh. “I think Shawn Gray was the first to mention it. I knew how many I had, but I didn’t want to think about it at that time.”

Race secretary Fred Nichols was thinking about it.

“I’ve been here 15 years and the most I’ve ever seen anybody win in one night was five races, so I knew this was a record,” he said. “He won four in a row at one point. He was pretty much near perfect that night.”

Home is where the horses are

Bartlett started working with horses when he was 15. Richard Bartlett, a longtime driver with more than 700 career wins to his credit who is now a full-time trainer, taught Jason much of what he knows.

“I grew up around horses and I’ve always looked up to my grandfather. I learned training from him. I was taught to be a trainer first and then a driver,” said Jason Bartlett. “I think training the horses and getting to know them – understanding them better – helps a lot.”

The elder Bartlett recently passed a milestone of his own as he notched his 1,000th career win as a trainer.

It’s Jason who has family bragging rights when it comes to driving, however, as he notched his 1,500th career win two weeks ago. Not bad for a guy who says he’s not a natural driver.

“I had 20-something starts as a 16-year-old and won one race. The next year, I raced more and still didn’t win a lot,” Bartlett said. “I was frustrated. It’s just not fun to do something you’re not very good at.”

Ironically, it was the same competitive nature that makes Bartlett such a successful driver that almost made him give up on driving four years ago. That was just before he figured out a couple of things.

“I wasn’t naturally good at it. I had to work at it. I just had to practice and get some confidence in myself,” Bartlett said. “You can put a brick on the seat and still win a race with a really good horse. I think it was just realizing that and making a lot of mistakes that helped me. I think the two of those things have made me a better driver.”

Well, that and having a grandfather well versed in the business and a supportive family around him.

“My grandfather’s always had a big stable of horses and having that as a resource, as far as having horses to drive, was a big thing,” said Bartlett, who now runs a training, boarding, and racing operation for 32 horses (three of which he owns) with his grandfather, mother (Sonia), and two other full-time employees.

Reaping racing’s rewards

Nowadays, Bartlett doesn’t have to rely on his grandfather because he pretty much gets his pick of horses to drive, and not just in Maine.

“I don’t go to Bangor too much, actually. I actually go to Scarborough, Plain Ridge, Bangor, Rockingham, and Saratoga,” he explained.

Bartlett’s hectic racing schedule starts Sundays in Scarborough, where he continues racing through Monday. Tuesdays, he moves on to Plain Ridge in Massachusetts. Wednesday it’s on to Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., then it’s north to Bangor for Thursday and Friday. Saturday, he heads back to Rockingham to race by day and then Saratoga Raceway in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., by night.

Whew… It’s a good thing he decided to hold off a little longer on chucking the driving career and getting into industrial electricity, which is what he earned his degree in from Southern Maine Technical College.

“I had that to fall back on just in case I didn’t make out too well in racing,” he said.

As a driver with 125 wins to his credit already this season and the part owner of a successful family horse business in Windsor, it’s safe to say he’s making out pretty well.

“It’s long hours and long days. I worked all day today, getting to the barn at 8, and I won’t get home until midnight,” Bartlett said. “You have to love what you do, but yeah, it’s been pretty rewarding.”

Besides the new house and lot he bought in Windsor for himself, wife Kristen, and 9-month-old son Koby, he says the biggest reward he gets from racing is racing itself.

“That’s what does it for me. The competition is big and the rush you get when you get behind the gate is hard to describe,” he said. “The racing is what keeps me going. I love it.”

Harness Racing

SETTING A RECORD PACE

Jason Bartlett set a record for wins in one race date at Bangor Raceway on May 24. The following are the races he won, their purses, and the horses he drove.

First, pace, $1,800 – Life Statuesque

Second, pace, $1,600 – Newport

Fourth, pace, $1,800 – Keystone Vargas

Fifth, pace, $1,600 – K Bec Pride

Sixth, pace, $1,600 – Parallax

Seventh, pace, $2,000 – Benedict Hanover

Ninth, pace, $1,600 – Village Surfer

Tenth, pace, $2,500 – Mister Gender