Jack has plenty of Spirit

Young driver Jack Callaghan has not been driving at the top level for long but he is certainly stamping his mark on the Australian harness racing scene.

The 20-year-old New South Wales-based driver won the $60,000 Group 2 Shepparton Cup with Spirit Of St Louis in Victoria tonight after winning the $70,000 Bendigo Cup with that pacer last week.

And it was a minor upset too, as Spirit Of St Louis won in track record time beating Victoria’s prized pacer and race favourite Lochinvar Art who was first up in almost a year.

“Artie was first up and I knew he’d be vulnerable . . . it was great to see him back but great to beat him,” said Callaghan.

In a masterstroke drive, Callaghan made a mid-race move with Spirit Of St Louis to sit outside the leader, knowing full well that Lochinvar Art would be put into the race at some stage.

And, just as Callaghan had predicted, fellow driver David Moran moved Lochinvar Art outside the leader, Mach Da Vinci, giving Spirit Of St Louis the one-one.

With Lochinvar Art’s condition fading in the home stretch, Spirit Of St Louis cruised to a three metre victory in a mile rate of 1:55.6 for the 2690m feature.

“He’s a genuine Grand Circuit horse,” said Callaghan.

“He’s only a wee little fella but his heart is the size of himself.

“He’ll either head to the Ballarat Cup next week or the Casey Classic at Melton the week after.

“Peter and Isabel Walsh have done a great job ticking him over from last week and I have to thank trainers Luke and Belinda McCarthy and the owners.

“He won last week and I was pretty pumped and it is great to get the drive again.”

Spirit Of St Louis is a son of Sweet Lou out of the Art Major mare Spirit Of Art.

Raced by a big syndicate of owners headlined by Summit Bloodstock, Spirit Of St Louis has amassed earnings of $239,597.

As for Callaghan, he has collected more than $2.6million in stakes since he began driving in the 2017/18 season and driven 291 winners.

To view the results from Shepparton on Saturday night click here.

By Amanda Rando for Harnesslink