Master of the mullet says “it’s staying!”

Mullet-wearing teenage South Australian harness racing driver Corey Johnson has no plans whatsoever to head to the hairdresser for a trim.

Johnson’s trademark long blonde locks make him easy to identify whether he’s driving at meetings in his own state or over the border at Mildura in far north-west Victoria.

“I’m doing okay at the moment so I’m not changing a thing!” Johnson laughed

“I do have a few little superstitions like I always eat a red apple on the way to a meeting and I prefer to wear certain-colored clothing,” he said.

“I’ve been growing my hair for a while now – and if I go and get it cut, it might just be the nail in the coffin!”

The likable Johnson has never been afraid to step outside the box. After he gave up football as a teenager, he competed in dirt circuit speedway car racing for three seasons.

“I was sitting at home one night when a car came up for sale on Facebook, a V8 VL Commodore. The first season I was third in my class and then the last two, I was the winner.

“It was something different away from horses. I raced once a month for six months at Dutton, near Truro, and at Pirie a few times. The car did end up pear-shaped a few times and I wrote off the front once. Mum was definitely happy when I decided to get rid of it.”

Johnson hasn’t sat in a hairdresser’s chair since heading to New Zealand for the Cup in 2019.

“After the cup I was home for a month, then went back over (to NZ) to work with Robbie Holmes, who trained about 40minutes out of Christchurch. He had 42 horses and I got a fair few drives,” he said.

The enthusiastic youngster has since built his skills and reputation and with 34 victories on the board, he’s well on his way to the best-ever season – his previous benchmark is 38 wins and 83 placings in the 2019/20 season.

The 19-year-old of Penfield Gardens (about 20 minutes from Adelaide’s Globe Derby Park) got his first win on 50/1 shot Emerging Art at one of the biggest nights of the SA calendar, the Allwood Stud Farm night on June 8, 2019.

Johnson is driving in red-hot form at the moment. He’s getting some good opportunities with the benefit of a three-point claim and has chalked up some memorable milestones in the past few months.

In June, he led all-the-way at Globe Derby with Zigzagzoo (Majestic Son) for trainer Luke O’Neil for his 100th winner. Then nearly a fortnight ago at the same track, Johnson posted his third treble with Boss Major (Art Major), Victory Medal (Washington VC) and Tidal Surge (Mach Three).

“To get those three home was awesome. I really didn’t expect it, so it was a nice surprise,” he said.

Johnson previously landed trebles at Port Pirie (about 12 months ago with all three prepared by Nick Tardio) and earlier in 2021 at Globe Derby when he got two over the line for Lou Trotta and one for his father Lane.

He’s also had success across the border in recent trips to Mildura with Justanextagrand (Changeover) and Southern Burgundy (Hes Watching) both prepared by former South Australian trainer Aaron Brown, now again based at South Merbein.

Johnson, who is this season’s leading junior driver at SA headquarters, believes setting aside time to do his form has improved his driving.

“I can be pretty critical of myself at times. So I decided to ditch the old TV and get one that was better to watch replays and analyse what I could have perhaps done better,” he said.

“Dad told me to come home with something decent, so I went into Harvey Norman and said I wanted the biggest television they had. I bought an 82-inch one-then after we got it outside, we found out it wouldn’t fit in our Landcruiser!”

Johnson said he was always going to be involved in horses.

“Mum (Pam) was the first female apprentice jockey over here and later pre-trained gallopers. After having family she was always going to go back into it, but that didn’t happen,” he said.

“I help dad (Lane) out at our property. It’s like a one-stop shop-we do foaling down, break them in, do their teeth and take the babies to Globe Derby or Gawler to get used to the mobile barrier.

“We do the whole lot and we’re pretty lucky to have a 950metre track. They really get to experience a horse lifestyle with at least 15 or 20 others floating around.”

“It’s nearly a four-hour drive to Mildura, but I’m enjoying getting the opportunities. I’ve driven at other tracks where there isn’t a sprint lane, so it’s not a big concern. We’ll keep going over there providing trainers continue to put me on. They’ve all been great so far.”

Johnson said at the most recent meeting, a horse trailing behind him was bumping on his helmet in a race.

“That’s all part of it, but when I felt it starting to nip on my hair, that wasn’t so funny!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink