Harness racing queen in King’s Birthday honor

Now it’s Kerryn Manning OAM!

Celebrated Victorian harness racing trainer-driver Kerryn Manning was recognized with one of Australia’s highest national distinctions in today’s (Jun 12) King’s Birthday Honours List.

Manning, who is one of Victoria’s most prominent harness racing figures, was made a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to harness racing, and to ovarian cancer awareness.

Manning’s many achievements in harness racing include 4184 wins since she was first licensed as a driver in 1992, the most winning female driver in the world.  She was the first female winner of the Australian harness Racing Driver’s Premiership in 2001.

Internationally, Manning won the New Zealand Trotting Cup in 2015 and the New Zealand Cup, in 2019, the first female to win either race.  She was also the first Australian woman to win a Group one Race in Europe in 1996, when, as a 21-year-old, she partnered the superstar trotter Knight Pistol (The Contender) to victory in the Norway Harley Davidson Trot.

Knight Pistol began his career in the early 1990s, winning the hearts of harness racing fans with sensational home-country victories before being tested in Europe.  He wound up with 55 wins and 39 placings from 181 starts for over $600,000 in stakes.

Manning left school after Year 10 to work in her father Peter’s stable and drove her first winner at aged 16. At that same time, she had instant success in her own right, with the first horse she trained Allbenz (Inner Circle) (bought for $500) going on to win 24 races.

She has since recorded 1049 wins as a trainer, with the support of her husband Grant Campbell, at their Great Western property Allbenz Park.

In addition to her sporting success, Manning has been a great ambassador for her sport, both on and off the track and was the first woman inducted as a Caduceus Club of Victoria Living Legend, an honor shared with her father – the first father-and-daughter to be admitted to the club.

The King’s Birthday honor also recognized Manning’s long-standing contributions to the Team Teal ovarian cancer initiative since 2010.

She’s been a Team Teal ambassador since 2016 lending generous support and profile to the annual harness racing campaign raising funds and awareness of ovarian cancer.

The Order of Australia citation is in addition to her previous Queens Birthday honor Australian Sports Medal in 2000.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink