He's known as the Bionic Man for his two replacement hips due to a degenerative hip condition, but Tim Tetrick is proving nigh on indestructible in every other facet of harness racing. The Illinois native arrived in New Zealand last week on his way to the World Driving Championship in Sydney, and had a chat to Matt Smith by phone from Christchurch yesterday.
Tim Tetrick is no stranger to long distances.
After all, this is the whizz kid of American harness racing who clocked up more than 100,000km in 2007 chasing his dreams - and a world record.
So a hop across the Pacific Ocean and down to the southern hemisphere? No big deal for the 33-year-old ''veteran'' of more than 8000 winning drives - 8521, to be precise, from 43,921 drives.
Tetrick is in New Zealand until Friday as he prepares for the World Driving Championship in New South Wales, which features drivers from North America, Europe and Australasia.
He almost had the perfect welcome to New Zealand at Alexandra Park on Friday, steering Tony Herlihy-trained mare The Fascinator to second place in a c2-c3 2200m mobile pace.
''I was hoping to win but it was no fault of anybody - the horse raced great, but we couldn't quite reach,'' Tetrick said.
Tetrick makes his living driving on tracks across the eastern seaboard of the United States, with the odd trip north to Canada and back to his home state of Illinois, but Friday night was his first experience driving right-handed.
However, he handled it with aplomb and almost stole the win before one of New Zealand's rising driving stars, Zac Butcher, nabbed him on the line with The Faithful.
''Once you get started, you know the gate opens and you do what you're supposed to do,'' Tetrick said.
''It's different with horses running in and running out of the turn but it worked out fine.''
While Tetrick just went down at Alexandra Park, he turned winning into an addictive habit in 2007, claiming a whopping 1189 victories - a single-season record for the sport.
Compare that to our own Dexter Dunn, who holds the New Zealand record of 220 wins in a season - albeit from considerably fewer driving opportunities each week.
Tetrick's year involved driving almost every day, often twice a day, at tracks around the United States but it made good his decision to move from Illinois, where he had carved out a tidy career following in the footsteps of his father, Tom D. Tetrick, and older brother Tom T. Tetrick.
''My family was in the midwest in Illinois. I had a girlfriend and a son there - it was hard to leave for sure,'' he said.
''But financially and mentally, I had to do it. I just wanted to go out and make a good showing of myself. I went out in October of '06 and it really stepped off well. My first year I was zoned in at Dover, winning five to six races a day, and really worked at it and it steamrolled into a great year.''
The travel between racetracks was a major down side of Tetrick's career - and still is - as he averaged more than 2000km a week during his record-breaking year.
''Living out of a bag and living out of a hotel - you do all that travelling, and it's tough.
''But it's a lot easier when you win, five or six races a day, to get up and go to work.''
And of course, it's a nice little accolade when a likeness of you is made into a bobblehead.
The miniature statues are popular with American sports fans who collect the figures based on sporting identities, and a limited edition of Tetrick's Bobblehead went on sale in 2008 before being reintroduced a few years later.
Tetrick admits to owning a few of his own, but mainly of drivers he followed when he was a youngster growing up in Illinois.
''I have about 15 or 20 of the drivers that have had them in the past - John Campbell, to Dave Magee, to Tony Morgan to Jimmy Morrill - I have quite a few.''
While his father might not have been immortalised in bobblehead form, Tetrick pays a lot of credit to his father, along with mother Mary Alice.
''My dad is a big influence - he taught me hard work and how to start from the bottom up, and how to treat horses the right way.
''As a catch driver, I grew up under Dave Magee and Tony Morgan, two of the greats of the Midwest.''
Tetrick actually trained his first driving winner, Travel 'N' Legacy, in July 1998, but he is in no hurry to move into the full-time training ranks.
''Right now, I just want to drive horses. It's the most competitive spot for me to be in.
''I still love the action of training horses, but it's hard to do both right now. Hopefully, when I'm older and retired from driving, I can train a few - dabble in it - or work with young horses.''
Like harness racing in New Zealand, the American industry has its challenges, with individual tracks often reliant on the racinos (casinos at the track) to keep their stakes levels buoyant. But Tetrick has a generally positive outlook on the state of the code.
''It's as good as it's been for a while with the slot revenues,'' he said.
''We get a lack of fans in the stands but it's still a very strong business. Our stake programme is very good - we have a lot of big races - [and] the breeding industry is still strong. We're still breeding a lot of really quality horses who bring high prices at the sales.
"There is a decline in breeding just like everywhere, but our business is still strong - but it could be a lot stronger.''
Tetrick, who is married to Ashley and has a son, Anthony (11), and a daughter, Trysta (2) - has a small farm in New Jersey, where he relaxes between meetings.
As for New Zealand, his first impressions were pretty good - even if a 3.30am wake-up call to go fishing near Auckland on Saturday morning was a bridge too far for him.
''So far I really like it. People are great and the racing is competitive.
''It's a little bit different racing from what I've seen so far, with the different distances and the different race bikes. But at the end of the day, it's how much money you can make and how many races you can win.''
Bionic Man's big wins
• Four Meadowlands Pace wins: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2014.
• One Hambletonian win: 2012.
• Fourteen Breeders Crown wins: 2007, 2008, 2009 (two), 2010 (two), 2012 (four), 2013 (three), 2014 (one).
