Connor packs his bags to give Queensland a ‘red-hot crack’

Young driver Connor Clarke will wave goodbye to Victoria in the coming weeks as he takes up an incredible opportunity in Queensland with prominent owner Josh Davine.

Davine, who owns and operates N40 Racing, has snapped up the services of Clarke to work at his Biddaddaba stable under the guidance of private trainer Michael Brennan.

Clarke will fly out of Victoria on June 18, and despite admitting it will be tough to leave behind his large network of family and friends, is excited about what awaits up north.

“Luke Sutherland works for Josh, and he saw the job coming up and asked if I was interested. I didn’t really know and was pretty happy with the way things were going here, but Josh spoke to me and I thought it was probably an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” Clarke, 22, said.

“I’m very overwhelmed. Not too many people get offered opportunities like this. It’s perfect and probably one of the best opportunities you could be offered in this industry in Australia.

“I’m going to give it a red-hot crack and see where it ends up.”

Clarke has never driven in Queensland but is looking forward to the chances he will get at Redcliffe and Albion Park as the stable’s main reinsman.

“Josh has told me he has 22 in work at the moment and about another 20 getting pre-trained. There will be 35-40 by the start of next year,” Clarke said.

“There’ll be plenty of good horses – there won’t be a shortage of them.”

Clarke has driven 220 winners in a career that started in February 2020, and has worked for prominent Victorian trainers such as Emma Stewart, Geoff Webster and Kyle Marshall.

He qualified for the Young Guns Series last New Year’s Eve in a season that reaped 43 victories, and he has already driven 29 in 2025.

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria