Abby gears up for race driving debut

Another Sanderson sibling is all set to hit the Victorian harness racing scene.

Sixteen-year-old Abby, who lives with her family at Charlton, has been engaged to drive two horses at tomorrow afternoon’s Stawell meeting.

She will handle brown gelding Timely Sovereign (5) in the opening event, the Claiming Pace and then Sea Hawke (6) in race eight, the Rachael McGrath (Gration) Memorial Pace—both horses prepared by her father Shane.

Abby’s older brother Ryan, who celebrates his 18th birthday today, is emerging as a bright light of the industry’s young talent. Ryan, with 48 winners to his name, will also be in action at Stawell, taking the reins behind Good Guy Mack (4) in race four, the Silverware Pace.

“Abby has been looking forward to this day for quite a while. She will obviously have a few nerves, but she’s very much prepared and will be okay,” proud Shane said.

“She is doing Year 11 at the Charlton College and gets every Wednesday off as part of her studies to help me. She is a hard worker and we enjoy having her around as much as possible.”

Shane said both he and his wife Naomi would be trackside at Stawell.

The family moved to the thriving Charlton Training Centre earlier this year from their base at Menangle in New South Wales.

“We thought the move would present more opportunities for Ryan and Abby because it’s central for many tracks. The Charlton community, along with club president Joe Thompson and his committee have been fantastic,” Shane said.

Sanderson kickstarted his training career in Queensland in the mid-1990s and moved to NSW about five years ago. He has trained over 570 winners, including victory in the 2010 Group One APG three-year-old colts and geldings final with Maywyn Jasper.

“We have a team of about 20 going at the moment, which includes a few young ones,” he said.

by Terry Gange for Harnesslink