Happy to come off the bench!

As far as in-form country New South Wales horseman Dean Cernovskis is concerned, his good harness racing mate James Rattray can indulge his travel bug anytime.

Cernovskis, who is setting up a new training property with his wife Rikki in the Yass Valley, has been taking the reins behind exciting speedster Whereyabinboppin (A Rocknroll Dance) while Rattray is overseas.

“I’m just loving being the fill-in driver for Jimmy and I’d like to think I can keep on a roll at Menangle for him,” he said.

“He’s in Canada and having a blast but I think he’s due home in the next week so it would be great if I could weigh in tomorrow night,” he said.

While trainer-driver James has been away, his successful and well-known father Barrie, based in Longford, Tasmania, has been in charge of the team at Exeter.

Cernovskis has the impressive record of three drives on Whereyabinboppin for two wins. The gelding has drawn eight in the For A Reason at Cobbitty Equine Pace, of $20,400, at Menangle.

“He’s a very good horse with a massive motor. He would certainly be up there as one of the best I’ve driven,” Cernovskis said.

“I first of all drove him when Shane Sanderson was training him. He had a head of steam, and it took three or four of us to get the race cart on,” he said.

“The horse would just pull himself out of it, but over the years he’s settled down and racing in a bit more laid-back fashion.”

Cernovskis let Whereyabinboppin stride to the front last week to get the cash in the FFA event – the same tactics he used successfully back in May at Menangle.

WHEREYABINBOBBIN REPLAY

Whereyabinboppin has an impressive race record of 16 wins and four placings from 39 starts for nearly $150,000.

Cernovskis, who recently trained his 250th winner, has three of his own horses competing at tomorrow night’s (Jul. 30) Menangle meeting.

The Announcer (Badlands Hanover) has drawn five in race three; former Queenslander Cheesandkisses (Betterthancheddar) is number three in the following race; while highly-talented Boom (Alta Christiano) has the seven alley in race six.

Five-year-old gelding Boom began his career in New Zealand before being purchased by big-spending Riverina owner Michael Boots, of Boots Properties Racing Pty Ltd.

Boom has faced the starter on five occasions for Cernovskis for two Menangle victories and another at Wagga.

“I’ve known Michael for a while and one day I bumped into him at a meeting he said he should get me a horse to train. I sort of forgot about it and then a couple of weeks later he rang and told me he’d found one,” Cernovskis said.

“I think he picks them out himself—he’s got a good eye anyway as most of them turn out to be very nice horses. We’re rapt in Boom and hopefully he keeps doing the job.”

Cernovskis always knew he wanted to be part of harness racing, despite his family having no background in the sport.

As a teenager and “crazy about horses”, he got to meet a local horseman Merv Thurston at Lackey Park, in Moss Vale.

“He was a great teacher for me early on. I was so scared of horses I couldn’t even put a halter on, but I eventually got over it!” Cernovskis said.

Since overcoming his equinophobia, Cernovskis has since gone ahead in leaps and bounds and forms a great team with wife Rikki, whose focus is on the breeding side.

“We breed quite a few each year and Rikki takes care of getting the mares in foal and then handling and breaking them in,” he said.

“There’s a team of six or seven in training and there’s more to come back in—probably when the weather starts to warm up!”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink