Aldo Cortopassi announced as new driving mentor

Racing WA recently announced that Aldo Cortopassi will be the new Harness Driving Mentor after his predecessor, Trevor Warwick, retired after 12 years in the job.

Cortopassi, an accomplished reinsman in WA, made his debut during the 1992/1993 season (according to Racing WA’s date) and has driven an incredible 1502 winners in this time, including seven Group 1 victories, but he is excited for his new role, hoping to help the next generation of drivers in the industry.

“It’s a new challenge and something I’m looking forward to.

“I’ve talked to a few of them at the country meetings and I thought this would be an opportunity to help these young drivers get through to the early stages of their careers,

“Just an opportunity to give back and help these young drivers, a lot of them are coming from non-racing backgrounds, which is what I’ve come from.”

Aldo’s father was a chief engineer for Mick Lombardo, which led to the family owning shares in a few horses along the way, but it was when Cortopassi was 15 that he went to work for a stable, eventually getting hooked on the industry, and the rest is history.

Cortopassi is now situated further south and has downscaled his training operation, with just a handful in work, as well as continuing his driving at a couple of meetings each week.

Familiar with the industries ups and downs, he hopes to be able to mentor the future drivers and better equip them with how to deal with all aspects of the industry, realistic that they will have to endure some lows at some point of their careers.

No stranger to success, Cortopassi looks back on his time driving Magnificent Storm with some extremely fond memories, including winning two Group 1 races in that time, with the $125,000 4YO Classic in 2021 and the $100,000 James Brennan in 2022, but it was the win on Millview Sienna NZ winning the Mares Classic in 2018 that was “unexpected”, winning at $90 odds.

Lombo Redback gave the trainer/driver one of his biggest wins early on, when he won the 2021 State Sires Series for the 3YO Colts and Geldings.

“Theres a lot of highs and lows in this industry and it’s one thing I want to bring to the young drivers is that you’re going to have a lot of highs but probably a lot more lows, and you just have to ride them the best you can.”

Aldo commenced his new role with Racing WA this week.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA