West Australian harness racing couple Ashleigh Markham and his wife Tamara are about to start another chapter in their lives with a move to Victoria.
“It’s been on the cards for probably five years. We’ve had a few long, long plans and then something would pop up or otherwise we’d always find an excuse to stay put and not move,” Ashleigh said.
But there were no more excuses once the couple discovered the Charlton Harness Racing Training Centre, northwest of Bendigo.
“We’re all really excited to be moving in there. The facilities and everything else is brilliant. And the town is very central to many other tracks, which really appealed,” he said.
The couple and their four children are living in Bunbury, situated on the coast, nearly two hours south of Perth.
“We’ve been down in this area for 10 or 12 years. We also lived at Capel for a bit,” Ashleigh said.
“I suppose a four-month stint with (Bendigo horseman) Glenn Douglas back around 2011 was sort of a stepping stone toward our move. I was able to check things out and thoroughly enjoyed the stay.
“When we spoke to Joey (President Joey Thompson) about the Charlton Training Centre everything quickly fell into place. The club was keen and just wanted to help us. It has really been smooth sailing.
“I suppose when it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, and it just all came together in the end.
“I plan to leave in about a fortnight with our ute and float all loaded up. The horses will be trucked over the following week and Tamara and the kids will fly to Victoria.
“We are definitely bringing at least four racehorses as well as Tamara’s horse-but there could be a few more.”
Tamara is an accomplished clerk of the course, which are always in short supply in regional areas.
“She’s hoping to gain accreditation in Victoria so she can work at meetings. She has been the Clerk at Bunbury for the past 15 years,” Ashleigh said.
Despite riding gallopers in trackwork for a while, Tamara comes from a harness racing background.
Her dad Peter Bell was a trainer before now working in another big WA stable, while brother Ryan is working a team and has done a terrific job with Shockwave (Mach Three-Here For The Money) which has 19 wins and 17 placings for over $514K. He took out the $200,000 G1 Gold Nugget for 4yos in December, 2019.
Ashleigh is currently out suspended, but will drive in the Bussellton Cup next Friday and then at Bunbury on January 25 as his final meetings in the west.
“Then I’m on the road to our new base. Our eldest son Ajay, who’s 15, is mad keen on the sport, but we want him to finish Year 10. He can start driving at the trials and then when he finishes his schooling, he’ll be able to compete at the races.
“There seems to be plenty of opportunities for junior concession drivers in Victoria so hopefully he can do okay.”
The go-ahead Charlton training centre is already the base for some handy teams, including former South Australian Greg Norman, former NSW trainer Shane Sanderson and young couple Michael Gadsden and Denbeigh Wade.
Club President Joey Thompson said Charlton’s growing harness racing fraternity was excited to have another trainer in town.
“There’s been plenty happening-we’ve just finished building a 32m X 12m shed which will have areas for feed, harness, a wash and an undercover section for harnessing up,” he said.
“Another 10 day-yards are finished and over 50 shade shelters, each three-and-a-half by three-and-a-half, have been erected. On top of this there’s been 400 more trees planted.
“We’ve found a lovely house for the Markham family and I’m sure they will fit in well at the Centre. At this stage they’ll have eight yards and two boxes and if they want more down the track, that won’t be a problem.
“Ashleigh also has a pretty good reputation as a farrier, so he is bound to be pretty busy.”