Midge shows it’s not just “luck”

Passionate harness racing trainer Noel “Lucky” Cameron, who is based at Gol Gol over the river from Mildura, is quick to lay the credit where it’s due for the polish on his handy pacer Ozzie Daybreak (Dawn Ofa New Day).

“It’s Midge (Cameron’s wife) who does everything with him – she absolutely fell in love with him when he arrived, and she’s the one who’s pretty much hands on with ‘Dodgy’,” Cameron said.

“The owner Eric Anderson asked me if I wanted to lease him, because he had too many in work at the time. We decided to take him and we’re definitely glad we did. Eric said he was sure that he would win us a few more races,” he said.

And Ozzie Daybreak has done that— he arrived in January last year and since the Camerons got him back to the races three months later he’s won five races for the couple.

Although the pacer was a 16/1 chance from his second row draw at Mildura last Friday (May 12), Cameron said the win didn’t come as a complete surprise.

“We’ve been waiting for a draw with him really – he just can’t seem to get any luck even when the conditions are for a random draw.  Eight wasn’t great again last week, but it was a super drive by Dwayne (Locke),” Cameron said.

“They settled well back then Dwayne went around them at the right time to put him into the race – I’m surprised that more trainers don’t use Dwayne because he does a great job and he always looks after your horse.”

Lucky and Midge have always worked their small team together– but Lucky said the fact they were involved in the sport at all was Midge’s doing.

“It was all her fault! Before we were married, back in the 1970s, we always used to go to the trots and I said to her one night I wouldn’t mind getting a horse one day that we could work ourselves,” Cameron said.

“So Midge took it on herself to ring up old Bill McKenzie, who bred a lot of horses at Moulamein (southern NSW) in the 1950s and 60s, and ask him if he had one he would lease to us – so that was how we got started. The horse wasn’t much good though, and it took us a few years to actually get our first winner, which was a horse called Culpra Joe.

“Midge just loves the horses.  She drove in a few of the Mildura Show races years ago, when women drivers were first starting, but she never got a full driver’s licence.”

Ozzie Daybreak has quickly established himself as one of the hobby-training couple’s best horses. Their most successful was $100K and 12-times winner Bella Cullen (P Forty Seven) who is now in the breeding barn.

“Probably the best one we had ability-wise was a horse called Grand Hand, but he didn’t have a lot of starts after an injury,” Cameron said.

“Now we like to breed one or two here and there, and Bella’s the favorite of course. She’s never going anywhere.  We have her first foal, Sweet Lucy Lou (Sweet Lou) and she’s in foal again to Poster Boy and we have a 2yo from another mare we raced, Magic Mach (Mach Three) named Young Gun Lou (Sweet Lou).

“It’s something we have enjoyed all of our lives together and we’ve had a lot of fun over the years.  You just keep at it, looking for the good one, enjoying it and hopefully they can pay their way!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink