Chelsea gets back to “hands on” in harness racing

Horses are her “everything” and harness racing has been the answer for young southern New South Wales trainer Chelsea Collins.

And Collins, who trains from the Albury Harness Racing Track, is being rewarded for her dedication this season by her consistent three-year-old Wot Dya Reckon (Sweet Lou).

The filly broke through for her maiden win at the Riverina Paceway at Wagga Wagga on Friday (Mar 22), after four placings from her first four outings.

“I first started in the industry when I was very young. My pop Roy Collins owned and bred his own horses, and he got me into mini trots,” she said.

“I raced around the Riverina with that, and when I left school, I worked in thoroughbred racing for a couple of years as a stable hand and strapper.”

The 31-year-old took a break to have a family, but found it difficult to balance her thoroughbred involvement with three children and full time work as a commercial cleaner and animal house sitter.

“Horses are my life, but it was hard to do the extreme early mornings. So I decided i would get back into harness racing,” Collins said.

“I bought my first horse in 2018 as an owner to start myself off and I had a few horses.  But I wasn’t having much success, and I was finding it hard to sit back and watch.

“I really wanted to be more hands on and do things the way I wanted to so in 2020 I went for my harness racing trainer’s licence.”

Collins had only a couple of horses in work, but got her first winner on New Year’s Eve that year at Albury with Okanes Devil.

Her second and third winners took a little longer – but in 2024 Collins is going great guns, with two wins and two placings from just eight starts.

“I have seven horses in work at the moment, but Wot Dya Reckon is the best of them,” Collins said.

“My connection with her has some history.  (Trainer-driver) Phillip Martin did a lot of work for my Pop years ago. He drove a horse call Adios ToeJoe (Paleface Adios) for Pop.  Phillip broke Wot Dya Reckon in, and a couple of other horses for the same owners, and he put me onto them.”

It’s been a productive venture in both directions, with Collins also winning with four-year-old first starter In Me To Grin (Grinfromeartoear) at Wagga on March 1 – and the third horse owned by the group the consistent Slippin The Life (Live Or Die) appears close to a breakthrough as well.

“It was great to get the wins for the owners, especially as they have bred these horses. It’s a long road from babies to racehorses. I’m so happy for Wot Dya Reckon in particular. She’s very small but she’s a powerful filly – just a real little trier with a great turn of foot.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink