Young star slips into the saddle for a new role

One door closes and another one opens – that’s the philosophy of young Victorian harness racing reinswoman Michelle Phillips, who admits she’s taken some time to get her confidence back after a serious fall earlier this year.

Phillips returned to top form with four winners at last Friday’s (Sept 15) Mildura meeting – and the very next day tested her skills on a potential new direction, with Clerk of Course duties at the Pooncarie Cup gallops meeting in outback NSW.

“I haven’t been having the best run of late and I went to Mildura thinking I might get one or two winners – but you never get your hopes up too high!” Phillips, of Bendigo, said.

“I couldn’t believe I finally did it – I’ve had three winners a few times at Mildura, but every time one of the boys has run over the top for that fourth one.”

Phillips drove a well-timed race to open her winning account at Mildura in race 5 on Martha Lavinia (Sunshine Beach); followed up with Beta Than Love (Betterthancheddar) in Race 8; In the Paper (Sportswriter) in Race 9; and then rounded things off in the last race of the day with John McLean (Sportswriter).

Phillips suffered a concussion in a race fall at Ouyen in March, but, incredibly, bounced back a week later against some of the nation’s most talented reinswomen to take the honors in the 2023 Australian Female Drivers Championship at Albion Park, Qld.

But she said the fall did take its toll and has her reassessing future options.

“I still sometimes struggle to string words together – I think that’s probably the result of a few falls and knocks over the years starting to add together.  It did take my confidence away a bit, and my drive to get out there,” she said.

“It’s definitely meant that driving has taken a bit of a back seat since then – I’ve sort of slowly been easing up on it.”

Phillips spent time in Queensland working for trainer Rickie Alchin, and since returning to Victoria is working a small team and assisting at the Bendigo-based Racing Training Centre.

But in typical Phillips fashion, the trainer, driver and former trackwork rider has also been working quietly away behind the scenes at training up as a Clerk of Course with experienced northern region Clerk Alby Mangels.

“Alby asked me to ride one of his new horses to try to get him trained up to qualify as his next-in-line when his current horse Tiamo retires,” Phillips said.

“Clerking is something my Pop did for years, and he passed away just a few months ago.  I was always interested, and I started helping Alby out with Hobbie.  It just became that every time I raced at Swan Hill or Mildura and if I didn’t have a drive in a race I would jump on and give Hobbie a bit of experience and get experience for myself.

“Alby asked me a couple of months ago if I was interested in helping him do the Pooncarie Cup, so that was my first official Clerk job. I had an absolutely awesome day – it was a great atmosphere and Hobbie was a little star.

“It’s been so lovely of Alby to give me the opportunity to learn and be his shadow and I’m so thankful for him trusting me on his horse.  It’s been great exposure for Hobbie and for me.  We’ve gradually worked our way up from just being there, to bringing the horses out on the track, to  following the mobile, and finally holding horses – the only thing we haven’t done yet is a catch at a full gallop.

“I still have a way to go to get qualified to do the job officially at harness racing meetings or official gallops meetings, but I’ve done five harness racing trial meetings so far.

“One of the issues at the moment is finding the right horse for myself.  Grey horses are preferred for the gallops so I’m on the lookout for a gelding that might be suitable, but they’re just not that easy to come by.

“For the moment, I’m just doing what I am doing. I’ll have a few more (harness racing horses) in work over the next few weeks and hopefully soon enough I will be an official clerk in my own right – and I’ll go from there.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink