Teen shows touch of class in first win

Young NSW reinsman Jack Brown couldn't wait for the day he celebrated his 16th birthday – simply because he could apply to get his harness racing driver's licence.

And less than two months later and in just his sixth race drive, Brown showed that he may well be a star of the future with a polished display to score at the recent Newcastle fixture.

"It was pretty exciting, particularly because the horse is owned and trained by my dad David," he said.

The youngster zoomed to an early lead with The Mach Army (Mach Three-Macrandra (Classic Garry) in the $6630 TAB Long May We Play Pace.

"I handed up to the favorite Tall Tale in the first lap. It was the first time I'd driven the horse in a race, but he always felt as if he was travelling well," Brown said.

After being eased out on the home corner, The Mach Army sprinted quickly and won impressively by two metres from Tall Tale with Wallaroy Boy in third place.

Jack Brown’s first win was The Mach Army, a horse trained by his dad David

Brown said he started driving at the trials when he was 15 years of age.

"I had to drive in 20 trials, but I drove in way more than that in the end while I was waiting to be old enough to get my licence. But it was good, I guess, because I was getting more experience all the time," he said.

"When I had my 16th birthday in mid-August, I had all the forms filled out to be sent in on the day. It took a while to get them processed, but then I was driving as soon as I could.

"The driving part has always appealed to me more than the training side and I'd love to one day be good enough to do it on a full-time basis."

The enthusiastic youngster hasn't wasted anytime in transitioning from the mini trots to harness racing.

"It was quite funny how I came to get involved. Dad had to pick up a mare at a property a few years ago and was also asked to pick up a little trotting gig while he was there," Brown said.

"But when he got back, the people who wanted the gig decided it wasn't the one they needed, so dad agreed to buy it – and that was the beginning of my mini trots career!

"We then were lucky enough to find Bold Strategy who gave me so many great memories. We won a lot of races at my local club Penrith Nepean Mini Trotting Club, which was half an hour away from our place at Wilberforce. The mini trots was a good grounding, and I loved it."

Without doubt a highlight of his pony trots career was being selected as a NSW representative to compete in a New Zealand Kidz Karts series.

"There's normally about a dozen kids chasing selection and I still remember the moment when I found out that I was one of the two who were picked. It was so exciting," Brown said.

"In New Zealand we competed at a few tracks including Alexandra Park in Auckland as well as Cambridge and I was lucky to get a win at Alexandra Park with mum (Maree) and dad watching.

"Later on, I spent a few days at the stable of Barry Purdon. Fortunately, I had my stablehand's licence already, and once Barry knew that I got to drive a couple of their horses in fastwork."

Brown now helps his father train a team of nine horses and then it's off to work as concreters for both of them.

They have a jog track at their property which is just beyond the outer suburbs, 60kms north-west of Sydney.

"We do all our fastwork at the Hawkesbury Training Track. It's just 15 minutes up the road," Brown said.

"I've driven for a few other trainers at Newcastle and Canberra, and hopefully I can get some more opportunities.

"I'm just excited to have the first win on the board."

 

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura