Fan club on hand for Ned’s first win

Teenage country NSW harness racing driver Ned Woodhouse landed his first-ever winner this week—to the cheers of family, friends and an enthusiastic group of workmates.

“It was pretty exciting to get the job done. I think I was just happy to get the milestone,” he said.

“My grandma Sharon Taylor was at the track along with mum and dad. There was also my cousins and uncle, and seven of my workmates who came to have a look after watching the Melbourne Cup at the pub.”

But the 16-year-old stayed cool as a cucumber in rating bay gelding Our Rebel Yell (Betting Line) to perfection to take out the Trading Ring Australia Pace at Riverina Paceway, Wagga Wagga last Monday (Nov 6) night.

After a quick 28.4 sec opening quarter, Ned steadied things up before reeling off a 57.2 last half to give his rivals something to chase.

“I really didn’t think I’d lead, but I got there okay. I just tried to keep him going at a nice speed because he’s got a quick sprint. He’s a horse that’s as easy as you could get to drive,” he said.

Our Rebel Yell, prepared by Ned’s father Brett, scored by one and a half metres from Hes A Terror (Peter McRae) with a further seven metres back to Seventy Four Gee (Bruce Harpley). The mile rate for the 1740m trip was 1.55-4.

The Woodhouse family trains at their 22acre property at Lake Albert, a suburb of Wagga Wagga.

“I’m an electrician and help dad out after work. My usual day is from 6.30am to 4 or 5pm and then it’s back home to the stables where dad has four in work,” Ned said.

“My driving career started off slowly and I think I’d got one placing before my first winner. But being a driver is a whole new world compared to the training part—it’s sort of the second half.

“I guess I’ve just been finding my feet. I’ve had one outside drive, but I’ll focus on driving dad’s horses for a bit. I know pretty much everything about them which is definitely an advantage.

“The win was my 11th drive and while I’ve driven at two other tracks, I’d say Wagga being 1000 metres would be my favorite.”

The youngster didn’t waste any time in applying for his driver’s licence after completing his 20 trials drives.

“I think I sent in my application a few days before my 16th birthday which was when I was eligible,” he said.

“I started out with the horses when I was really young, probably when I was eight and drove around with dad on our double-seater cart—it just took off from there!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink