First double for WA trainer

West Australian harness racing trainer Leeann Lee trained her first winning double on Monday at Pinjarra.

Her two runners Diamond Daze and Heidi Who took top prize in races two and six, with both horses owned by Leeann and her husband Rick Lee.

With just the two runners in work currently, she’s undoubtedly over the moon with her 100 per cent winners to runners strike record this week.

“Ability wise, they were both a chance of winning, but as you know, putting it together on race day doesn’t happen often.”

Heidi Who arrived on Monday to the Paceway as a maiden and left as a graduate, claiming the narrow victory in the three-year-old maiden event with Chris Lewis on board. Starting from barrier two over the 2185m trip, Heidi Who settled in the one out two back position throughout and with 500m to go, peeled three wide to run down the leader by a short half head in 2:00:1.

“Heidi has no idea about racing, so we were just wanting her to get around safely, but she is just a bulldog and loves to win.”

Diamond Daze led all the way from barrier two in race six, with Mitchell Miller in the seat. The four-year-old mare has been racing in great form of late, finishing in the top four in her last nine starts, bringing up her second win this season from 12 starts, as well as a further eight placings this time in, her latest win over the 2185m saw her record her fastest winning mile rate of 1:58:3.

“We thought Diamond Daze would go well but thought that she would more than likely run second behind Bonds’ horse.”

With both horses purchased through the APG yearling sales, Diamond Daze in 2019 and Heidi Who in 2020, both are Westbred progeny have been eligible for the bonuses on offer for WA bred horses.

Leeann’s love of horses started from a young age, with her parents Bill and Margaret Brindley long standing participants in the harness racing industry, there was never any doubt that Leeann would find her way into the industry.

Making her debut to training during the 1994/95 season, Lee has only ever had a small team in work at any time, and with breaks in training during that period, she has had just 137 starters over the years, with this season undeniably one of her most successful.

There wouldn’t be many in the industry that don’t know her father Bill Brindley in one way or another, an avid supporter of harness racing and even more so, his daughters Karen Young and Leeann Lee.

Brindley’s interest in racing peaked in his teen years and would often frequent the trots with his late wife, Margaret. It wasn’t until 1972 that the two purchased their first broodmare and had their first foal.

There wasn’t much in the way of beginners’ luck with their start to breeding, with the first 13 foals failing to be fast enough to make it to the track, but eventually they bred Scott’s Finale who flew the flag for family, becoming their first winner in the game.

To view the results from Pinjarra on Monday click here.

By Ashleigh Paikos for RWWA