Record effort for young driver

Young harness racing driver Blake Micallef described his efforts at Riverina Paceway on Tuesday as the best night of his career.

Micallef made Riverina Paceway his own on Tuesday night as he drove four of the eight winners on the card.

They weren’t purely favourites either with a one dollar all-up investment on his four winners returning a whopping $4331.60.

Micallef won the first three races on Nina Simone ($2.80), Ash Bee ($7.00) and Eastbro Katie ($17.00) before striking again in race five with Billysbredone ($13) getting home in a photo finish.

The 23-year-old had no hesitation in hailing it the best night of his short career.

“Yeah probably by far,” Micallef said.

“To have five drives for four winners and a fifth, they’re the nights you’re going to remember.

“Four’s definitely my best. I think I’ve driven three a couple of times but it’s the first time I’ve cracked four in one night, which is always good.”

Making the feat sweeter for Micallef was the fact three of the winners were trained by his father David.

“It was even better knowing the client’s horses are Mum and Dads. You always strive to be better and when you can do it on your own stock it’s even better,” he said.

“At the moment it’s a bit hard with all this wet weather so there’s a lot of work going in and out of town trying to get them all done so to get results like that makes it definitely worthwhile.”

Micallef admits his return of four winners surprised him a little.

“I always go to the races and I personally try and always strive to at least get one (winner),” he said.

“Once the first one (Nana Simone) got up, I really liked her, and I thought the other mare (Ash Bee) is always consistent, it was just going to depend on what happened out of the gate and once she got cover, I knew she was going to be right in it.

“The other two came as a bit of a surprise but you can’t take anything away from them, they done it the tough way.”

Micallef’s other winner, Eastbro Katie, was for Young trainer Troy Fletcher. It was Micallef’s fourth drive on the mare for two wins.

EASTBRO KATIE REPLAY

Micallef was looking to continue his good run with four drives at Bathurst on Wednesday night, before heading to the Albury and Cowra meetings later in the week.

As for his longer term plans, Micallef has no intention of leaving the Riverina any time soon.

“I won the junior award last year and I’m doing it full-time, I don’t think there are any other juniors out this way that do it full-time so it’s something I’m striving for, two win it two years in a row,” he said.

“You’ve just got to take it as it comes but at the moment I’m really happy with how it’s going along.

“I’m pretty happy here. You go to Sydney and you don’t get as good as opportunities as I get out here at the moment. I know I’ve still got my claim but I don’t think I’ve driven a horse with my claim in about two weeks.”

For complete Riverina Paceway results, click here.

by Matt Malone, republished with permission from The Daily Advertiser