nice to see Matt doing great:
Matt Kakaley entered Thursday night's program at Yonkers
in a spot he never thought he'd be, tied for leading
driver. Good things happen when Ron Burke is on your side.
When Yonkers resumed racing this year after its annual
holiday break, Kakaley got the good news from Burke that
he was being handed the duties of driving for the massive
stable at Yonkers. The opportunity opened up when Yannick
Gingras returned to the Meadowlands and the Burke-Jason
Bartlett team broke up.
Kakaley has made the most
of the opportunity, and went
into last night's card with 10
wins from 39 drives at the
meet. Brian Sears won four
races Thursday to take the
lead in the standings with 12
victories.
"It was a natural progression,"
Burke said. "Jason
wasn't going to go back to
driving them all and I don't
think he was happy that I
moved back to Yannick. For
the next three months I can
get a commitment out of Matt
and I actually wanted to see what he could do, how he
would handle a move to a place like Yonkers. We had a
good feeling that it would work well. The horses have looked
great for him, like they're ready to go. Overall, we are
thrilled."
Kakaley finds himself in an odd situation. He is not a
Yonkers regular, yet he is battling it out for leading driver
there. Kakaley's home is Pocono Downs and he says he
intends to return there when that track opens March 23.
However, he said if Burke asked him to remain at Yonkers
he would.
"It's huge to have him behind you," Kakaley said. "You'll
be down on horses every day because he races every day.
The horses are ready all the time and that's what you want.
You always want horses that are ready and you always
want horses that are going to show up. His horses are
always ready to show up. I never expected to be doing this
well at Yonkers. I had a really good first weekend and it
wasn't just Ronnie's horses. All the horses I have been
driving have been ready to go and have been doing well.
But when Ron Burke is using you you're going to win
races."
This could be a big year for Kakale. He is looking to
break into the upper echelon of the sport's drivers, and his
association with Burke is sure to move him forward. While
Gingras remains Burke's No. 1 driver, Kakaley is establishing
himself as a solid second option.
"I want to try to assign Matt some of the younger stakes
horses this year and let him go with them," Burke said. "He
will be their regular driver. Yannick can't go everywhere
and drive all of them, plus Yannick has other commitments
in stakes races. I am going to try to give Matt more opportunities
to drive better horses because I think he has
earned it."
Kakaley won his 2000th race in February at age 23,
making him the youngest driver to reach that milestone. At
Pocono, he was second in the drivers' standings last year
with 209 wins, finishing behind George Napolitano Jr.
Those are significant achievements, but Kakaley is hoping
to take the next step.
"I'd like to get hooked up with more stakes horses and
travel more with the Grand Circuit," he said. "I've been
doing pretty well at Pocono and I want that again. Going
forward, this year or maybe next year, I'd like to have more
stakes horses. There's going to come a time where I'm
going to have to make some sort of commitment (to drive
regularly at the Meadowlands or Yonkers) like that so I can
get the horses I am talking about. I know that."
