My Roomie is a horse who can run. Just ask David Siegel '80, an amateur harness driver and CEO of a company that sells horse racing data. With the horse, My Roomie, leading the way, Siegel set a North American record for amateur harness drivers on Sept. 28, 2006 at the Cal-Expo track in Sacramento, Calif. Siegel and the horse completed the mile-long race in 1:52.2.
Siegel is president and chief executive officer of TrackMaster, an Equibase company that provides handicapping data for bettors. Siegel took up competitive harness racing in November 2004 and, as of late 2006, had participated in 279 races and amassed 26 wins, 27 second-place finishes and 35 third-place finishes.
While racing another of his horses, Wastin' Time, Siegel nearly matched his amateur record. “I fell in love with horses and harness racing almost five years ago and have been driving for the last two as an amateur,” wrote Siegel in an e-mail to this magazine. “As most of my races are against professionals, I wanted to leave my imprint somewhere in the industry. I noticed the ‘fastest amateur mile' record in the [United States Trotting Association] record book and thought that breaking it was an achievable goal.”
Siegel, 48, lives in Palo Alto, Calif. and is married with two children. He earned a degree in economics and mathematics from Union College and master's degree in business administration from Stanford University in 1983. Siegel is the top executive at TrackMaster, which compiles and sells data relating to harness and thoroughbred racing.
He joined the company in 1993 as a vice president for marketing and development and helped develop TrackMaster's hand-held device. In his work, Siegel still uses basic statistical analysis learned in courses at Union. He also uses TrackMaster data to build strategies prior to races at the Cal-Expo track.
“I have access to data that, I believe, helps me figure out the tendencies of other horses,” Siegel said. “If I look at this data and see three horses have a good gait speed and like to be on lead, in a race like that, I will very likely go to the rail and bank on the fact that they will battle each other.” Siegel, who is also a long-time volunteer baseball coach, makes the two-hour drive north to the track in Sacramento about twice a month. As an amateur driver, he is not allowed to keep the driver's percentage of a purse, but does collect the owner's portion of the purse when Wastin' Time or My Roomie wins.
“It's a real rush to beat guys who do this for a living. Once I am out there on the track, I am very, very competitive. And people are betting money on you, so you have an obligation to do everything you can,” Siegel said.
The sulkies being pulled by the horse travel at about 30 mph and competitors ride less than an inch away from one another. Harness drivers are regularly hurt and sometimes killed after being ejected from the sulky and trampled by the horses.
Siegel wears a vest and helmet, but acknowledged that he is taking a risk to attain the enjoyment of the race.