Female harness drivers seek to continue domination of NZ national series

Northern junior driver Monika Ranger has impressed some of the north's best judges in her short career. Photo / HRNZ

A remarkable stat for one of harness racing’s most surprising careers could get another boost in the national junior driver’s champs at Addington tonight.

The series brings together 12 of our best young harness horsepeople for six heats, two at Cambridge last night, two at Addington tonight and the final two at Methven on Sunday.

The series was for years casually referred to as “the boys’ champs” because until about 20 years ago, most of those competing in it were male.

That name clearly doesn’t suit anymore, as the last seven championships have been won by female drivers, Sarah O’Reilly with a remarkable four as well as Kerryn Tomlinson, Alicia Harrison and last year Crystal Hackett.

One of the six females competing this season is northerner Monika Ranger, who admits she only got into driving “because I had nothing to lose” and has earned the respect of leading northern drivers for the way horses respond to her.

Horses are assigned to drivers by random draw and Ranger has two decent chances in Major Happy (R6, No 5) and Donna’s Boy (R7, No 5) at Addington tonight, the latter a smart trotter for trainer Bob Butt.

While Ranger is having a career-best season with 20 wins, she has really excelled partnering trotters, which account for 11 of those victories – this can only be a confidence boost for those considering backing Donna’s Boy tonight.

“I love driving trotters, even more than pacers,” says Ranger, whose previous personal best was 16 last term.

“It has been a really good season and I am lucky to have a loyal bunch of trainers who put me on so often.

“When I started driving I didn’t think it would get to the level it has now, it was more or less because I had nothing to lose.

“So I am looking forward to being part of the series again but I might be the boring one. I am 30 now so I might be the nana of the group,” she laughs.

While junior drivers love being part of the series, Ranger admits it comes with a little more work.

“When I drive up here I tend to know the horses quite well but for something like this series, and this is my third time competing, I will do a bit more video work on the website.

“I liked the look of Major Happy, she looks really nice and consistent and Donna’s Boy was really good on Cup Day, when he showed good gate speed.”

It took a wonderful performance from a race rival tonight in He Aint Fakin (Emily Johnson) to beat Donna’s Boy on Cup Day, and the two northern female juniors look set for good points in at least that heat as they try to make it eight straight years that a female wins the series.

The series has set up beautifully, completely by fluke, with the random draw of drives producing a very even spread of talent, with many of those participating being Friday-night regulars at one of our two biggest tracks.

Both tonight’s heats failed to attract the capacity 12 runners, so the drivers who miss out on a drive in any heat get seven points added to their overall tally.

While the best version of former pacer He Aint Faken may well win tonight’s second heat (and fourth overall) for Johnson, the pacing heat looks more open, with Ellie Barron on favourite Classic Linc, while Wilson House gets his opportunity to continue a massive season with a good chance, drawing the pole in Sandy Shore.

Sam Thornley, no stranger to winning drivers’ series, partners last-start Addington winner Brandi Snap.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.