1Equine Australasian Young Drivers Championship - Abbey Vidovich

The 2026 1Equine Australasian Young Drivers Championship will be held in New Zealand from the 4^th November with the 9 heats run at Cambridge, Alexandra Park and Ashburton and the final heat run on 10^th November at Go Media New Zealand Cup Day at Addington.

Representing Western Australia in this years championship is 20 year old Abbey Vidovich who works for Kim Prentice.

“I’m pretty much second string driver and drive the claims (horses in races for junior claimer drivers). Mitchell Miller is the first stringer. He’s been there for a fair while but I do get opportunities on the better horses sometimes,” she said.

Vidovich who has driven 178 winners and says her first on Franco Ecuador trained by Prentice at Pinjarra in November 2024 was special.

“I was scared of horses when I was a lot younger but we lived next door to Murray Vets which is a big Vet over here. They offered me some work when I was at school and then I thought that horses weren’t that bad. A good family friend Dean Miller breaks in a lot of babies over here and often needed a hand so I worked there. He got me to drive a horse and it’s taken off since then.”

Vidovich says Miller is also a mentor when it comes to advancing her driving knowledge.

“He’s very tactical and a smart guy. I always look to him when I need advice form wise.”

Vidovich says her goals in harness racing are to go as far as she can in the sport, drive in some of the bigger races and make a name for herself.

A horse she’s excited about driving in WA at the moment is All At Once which she drove to win at Gloucester Park earlier this month.

“She’s still young and green but she’s really nice and I also like Soho Shakedown for Kim Prentice.”

Abbey drove him to run second to Magnificent Storm in an FFA race at Gloucester Park in August.

With the championships just around the corner Abbey is starting to get excited.

“I’m very very excited. Meeting different people, driving different horses and a new experience.”

Juniors from Western Australian have picked up the title eight times – Chris Voak in 2013, Stephen Reed 2008, Craig Goldfinch 1996, Justin Warwick 1992, Greg Kersley 1989, Hayden Fisher 1986, Geoff Marriott 1983 and Lindsay Harper 1978.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink