Herbertson and Dixon, 2024 JD Watts award winners

YOUNG gun Victorian James Herbertson will chase some different experiences after his dominant harness racing win in last year’s Australian Driving Premiership.

Herbertson, 24, finished 2024 with 370 wins to win the JD Watts Awards for drivers for the first time with a staggering 93-win margin over former winner, Queensland’s Pete McMullen (277 wins).

“It was a great year, not just for the number of wins, but the quality, too,” Herbertson said.

“I said the previous year, success would be competing more regularly in the big races and winning some, I did both.”

Herbertson, who already boasts over 1500 career wins, won his first two pacing Group 1 races last season on Heza Punk Rocker in a Vicbred final on September 14 and then on Kiwi raider Coastal Babe in the Victoria Oaks on October 12.

“Defending the crown will be hard because I’ll be away for about two months in the middle of the year,” he said.,

“I’ll have about five weeks in the US checking everything out and then, as part of the award for winning the Young Guns series at Melton, I’ll have three weeks in Sweden with a trainer over there.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to see how they do it in other parts of the world and you’ve always got to explore options.”

Given the monstrous success of Aussies Todd and Andy McCarthy, along with NZ’s Dexter Dunn, in the US, you can see Herbertson’s thinking.

Another Queenslander and former winner, Nathan Dawson, finished third on the 2024 table with 249 wins.

SA’s Wayne Hill had another terrific season with 219 wins, while Chris Alford (209) and Cam Hart (202) were the others to top 200 wins for the season.

In the training ranks, Queensland champion Grant Dixon won the national title with 213 wins.

That success was driven by the teamwork of Dixon and wife, Trista, especially with all the travel and time away from home involved with their champion pacer Leap To Fame.

“Trista does an amazing job and this is every bit as much an award for her as it is me,” Grant said.

“Leap To Fame is a once in a lifetime horse and you’ve to take him everywhere, but then there’s all the work of keeping the big team at home going.”

Victorian star Emma Stewart, who also trains in an unofficial partnership with Clayton Tonkin, finished second with 189 wins.

It’s a similar story with Chantal Turpin and husband Pete McMullen, who enjoyed a real breakthrough season in third spot with 173 wins.

Huge credit also to Bathurst’s Nathan Turnbull with a terrific haul of 156 wins.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia