Johnson to leave WA after three year stint

After just over three years here in Western Australia, Emily Johnson has made the decision to return home after fulfilling her dream of becoming a harness racing driver, with her family connection in New Zealand her main reason to leave.

“All my family are over there,

“I’ve just felt as though it’s time to move back,

“I’ve been feeling home sick.”

Johnson, who made the move in December 2020 at just 17-years-old initially made the jump to relocate countries when a position became available at Four Diamonds Pacing (Aiden De Campo) learning plenty in her three-year stint with the astute stable, with some lessons easier than others.

“The hardest thing was learning to just move on from something that hasn’t gone my way,

“If I had made a mistake of lost a drive, I had to just move on to the next one and learning from my mistakes but don’t let it get me down,

“All I can do is just relax and try my best”

With Johnson already comfortable in the cart from her years of pony trots and working for a stable before making the move over, it was her goal to eventually drive in races and in 2021 she made that dream a reality.

“Just before I had moved over I was doing trackwork and working towards my trials license, so my goal at first was really just to start driving races as it had been my dream since I was a kid racing ponies.”

After making her debut in late 2021 and having just the three starts, Johnson eventually notched her first winning drive on Saturday January 8 in 2022 at Albany on board her school horse Cordoring Road, with her last drive in WA ending where it all began.

October 7 2022 is a date she remembers fondly, with the then 19-year-old driving her first treble, with the wins even more exciting being in consecutive races on the card at Bunbury.

“That was pretty exciting,

“One of the wins being on Sport Sport Sport, she’s been one of my favourites for a while now.”

Johnson has now had a total of 689 drives for 64 wins and 147 placings, with another seven attempts before she jets off on Saturday, February 24.

Emily Johnson has a new job lined up in a stable in Cambridge, but still has another seven drives in WA before she heads of.

Her last drive will be at Albany where she has a book of six drives from the eight races before she boards her plane home the following day on Saturday, February 24.

At this stage, Johnson has no plans of returning to WA.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA