First winner and he’s hooked

Young Victorian harness racing driver Ben Xiriha’s passion for the sport has been a bit of a “slow burn” and wasn’t really on his radar growing up.

But after celebrating his first driving win recently and working full time in a job he loves, that’s all turned around for the 20-year-old.

Raised on a farm at Pipers Creek, near Kyneton, Ben always remembers the horses being around, with his dad Tony a trainer-driver who prepared big teams at times.

“I’d be there helping him out, but he had me doing the not-so-nice stuff like picking up manure!” Ben joked.

“But now that I’ve got right into it, particularly driving, I just love it,” he said.

“I’ve been working for Brent (Lilley) at Bolinda for just over a year and honestly couldn’t think of wanting to do anything else.”

Xiriha got the money for his boss with Spotlight (Muscle Hill) at Ballarat last Friday night (Feb 24) after making what proved to be a race-winning move in the middle section.

“He’s a little one-paced and I just thought with no real speed on, I had to get around to the death-seat to be any chance,” he said.

“We did a bit of work to get there and while he still felt good, I wasn’t going to do any early celebrations. I was worried about Oneoutofthesquare (Ellen Tormey), but we got there in a tight finish.”

Spotlight won officially by a half neck with Wilcannia back in third place.

Xiriha said he got involved more seriously in the sport when his brother Joel had a few horses and was also driving.

“I was into landscaping construction and actually trained a few when dad got crook there for a while,” Xiriha said.

“But I’d never really thought much about getting my driver’s licence— until I got really interested when I started at Brent’s place,” he said.

“The win was my 10th drive. I’ve had a few placings and one was at Melton which was great. Brent’s giving me plenty of opportunities because I’m on two this week at Ballarat (March 2) and one at Cranbourne (March 3).”

Xiriha said he had a few beers to celebrate landing his first winner, “but it was then back to reality”, having to be up at 5am to start work.

For complete Ballarat results, click here.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink