At 16 Jack is already making a name for himself

Young Sydney reinsman Jack Brown is just 16-years-old, but he has been afforded a start in harness racing that will stand him in good stead as he looks to eke out a career in the sport.

His father David trains a small team out of his Riverstone stables in Sydney’s west and The Mach Army, which was trained by his dad, was Jack’s first winner.

That was at Newcastle last October, just a month after he was granted his driver’s license.

A graduate of the mini trotting movement, Brown has already driven 12 winners from limited opportunities and there are some good judges predicting he has a bright future.

Brown has just returned home from Queensland where he spent eight weeks as caretaker for a team of horses that KerryAnn and Robbie Morris’s Lucky Lodge stables were racing in the Sunshine State.

“Working with KerryAnn and Rob is great,” said Brown.

“I have only been with them for a short time but already I have learned so much, and they have given me some great opportunities.

“My family has always been in the game, and I was able to gain good experience from driving the mini trotters, which was an ideal stepping stone for me to progress to race driving.”

Tonight, Brown heads to Newcastle where he has three drives.

The first of two that he will drive for KerryAnn Morris is Aalesund, a last-start winner that clocked 1.54.6 when driven by Brown.

That was her seventh win from 62 race starts and she is well fancied to add to that score tonight.

“She is racing really well and despite drawing on the back line, I think she will be hard to beat,” said Brown.

“I will let them settle up front and then decide when I need to put her into the race.”

The second of the Morris runners that Jack will partner is Petes Naholo in Race 5.

“He has drawn unfavourably out in gate eight with plenty of speed drawn to his inside so I will just have to see how things pan out at the start and hope for some luck in running,” said the young reinsman.

Last-start winner Mammals Magic (Race 4) is the third of Brown’s drives which will race off the speed from her second-line draw and Brown admits that he will be driving her and hoping for a touch of luck during the run.

by HRNSW