Shane joins the party with 150/1 winner

It’s been a whirlwind time for former NSW harness racing driver Shane Edyvean—and he’s bound not to forget it in a hurry.

Edyvean joined in the celebrations last Sunday (Sep. 4) at Launceston when champion Tasmanian trainer Ben Yole won every race on the eight-event card.

“I was more than happy to be part of it and get my first-ever victory as a driver,” Edyvean said.

The 35-year-old led all the way with bay gelding Tee Jay Cee (Lincoln Royal) to take out the Langford Equine Clinic Pace at bolters’ odds of 150/1.

Edyvean said his boss was keen for him to go forward at the start and then take it from there.

“Ben thought we had enough gate speed to land in a nice spot. The horse absolutely flew out and got to the front. I was confident in the run because he felt terrific,” he said.

“I had driven him before that in a trial at Hobart. It was a standing start and he missed away but ran on well at the end. I was quite impressed with him.”

Formerly from the Riverina, in southern NSW, Edyvean was in line for a job with a Victorian stable, when Yole contacted him out of the blue two months ago to move to Tasmania.

“I asked him to give me a few days to sort it out. When I missed out on the other job, I thought a change of scenery would be good. I’d never met any of the Yole family and didn’t know any of his staff or drivers,” he said.

“But I’m loving it and the weather has been great. I’ve got a place at Kelso which is 15 minutes away from the stables.

“I think I’ve had double the amount of race drives since I’ve been here than what I had in two years back home!”

Edyvean said he lived at Coolamon, near Wagga, where his dad trained a few horses on a nice property.

“Dad was involved in the sport a good while ago and then gave it away in 2011. When he got back into it about two years ago, that’s when I took it up,” he said.

“I had about 30 drives, mainly for dad, and went close to getting a winner at a Coolamon meeting when I went down by a head.

“I’m a qualified spray painter and enjoyed that as well as giving Dad a hand. He’s only working two at the moment and they are returning from spells.”

Yole, who is all set to take out his second Australian National Trainers’ Title, had previously trained seven of eight winners at a Hobart meeting a month ago.

According to the State’s records, the only other Tasmanian trainer to train the card was Frank Powell in 1919 at a Queenstown meeting, which was a five-race program.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink