First career win for Grace Jones

Grace Jones had a night she won’t forget in Launceston on Friday when she drove her first harness racing winner at her 19th race drive aboard Will He Pike (Heston Blue Chip)($13) in the Vizpix Broadcast Services Stakes (1680m).

Jones, 16, drove a confident race early to lead from barrier five on the five-year-old gelded son of Heston Blue Chip, with the pacer always holding his rivals late to record a 4.4m win over Camelot Jedimaster ($2.20 fav) and Just Follow Me ($7) in a mile rate of 1:57.7s.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Jones on Saturday morning.

“I was quietly confident going into the race given that he would go as well as his good run the start before.

“I wasn’t meant to drive him out. The plan was only to work forward early and find the death, but things changed with the late scratching.

“It was nice to get a breather (during the second quarter), but he always felt good in the run. I thought halfway down the straight we were going to win,” the driver explained.

Jones is a fourth-generation harness racing participant and is happy mixing her studies at Exeter High School around helping her father, Mark (who trains Will He Pike), with his team of horses and driving on the weekends.

For bragging rights, her brother Malcom finished 5th in the race on the stable mate Nova Baxter.

Brodie Davis took driving honours at the Launceston meeting, bookending the program winning on the Leigh Rand-trained Gypsy Amour ($2.10 fav) and Colby Art (backed in from $51 into $10) for trainer Brent Parish.