1Equine Australasian Young Drivers Championship - Layne Dwyer

The 2026 1Equine Australasian Young Drivers Championships will be held in New Zealand from the 4^th November with it’s 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.

Nineteen year old Layne Dwyer will represent Queensland in this years championship.

“I’ve been brought up around horses. Dad’s got a team of about forty. I was working for him for years and that’s how I first started driving. Then I went out on my own and I’m based at Jack Butler’s as a mainly freelance driver,” he said.

Dwyer has driven 326 winners, his only feature win coming on Cheerstolou in the Listed Peak Of The Creek Final at Albion Park.

Between November 2025 and January 2026 Cheerstolou and Dwyer went on a winning streak taking out six of their seven starts including the Peak Of The Creek Final which he won by seven metres in a time of 1-53.3 over the 1660 metres.

“We have six meetings a week so we get one day off. I enjoy the racing in Queensland but I’m going to enjoy going to somewhere a bit different. There seems to be a different style of racing over there and I’m looking forward to getting into it.”

Layne has been to New Zealand a few times. In 2019 he came over for the Kidz Kartz Interdominions. He’s also been here twice with Not As Promised, the winner of nineteen races including two Group One features which is trained by his father Graham.

Dwyer is looking forward to the trip and is coming over a bit early.

“I’ll be over there next week cause I’m going to Kaikoura and looking forward to that. Apparently it’s a pretty good thing.”

Queensland drivers have won the title just four times – Narissa McMullen 2017, Chris Petroff 2000, Grant Dixon who deadheated with Ricky Duggan (Tasmania) in 1993 and Darrell Graham in 1991.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink