Paris, here I come! Ryan ready to represent Australia

Victorian harness racing young gun Ryan Sanderson, 21, is still pinching himself at being selected to represent Australia in an invitational junior race in France in a few weeks.

“It’s going to be such a big thrill. The whole thing took me by surprise that’s for sure and I’m so really looking forward to it,” an excited Sanderson, of Charlton, said.

“I was competing at a meeting a while ago and Ants (VTDA President Anthony Butt) just sort of wandered up and told me he’d been asked to select a driver to go overseas—and he’d decided it was me.

“I’m unsure what I said because I was just blown away! I fly out on November 25, and the race will be run on December 1, and then I stay over for another week.

“I’ve only ever been overseas once before and that was about 10 years ago on a family holiday to Dubai.”

Harness Racing Victoria has an agreement with France where an international race is held each year at Vincennes, about 15 kms east of Paris. Fifteen representatives from other countries including the USA, Germany and Italy compete in an event known as the Prix des Rencontres Internationals du Trotteur Francais.

“I’ll be staying at the Grosbois Training Centre which is not far from Vincennes. There are heaps of trainers on-site and I’ll be in a hotel with all the other drivers.”

The 1100-acre Grosbois Training Centre, just outside Paris, houses 1500 horses, and offers full time education relating directly to trotting as well as training facilities and residential areas.  There are five miles of jogging tracks, two fastwork tracks and an equine hospital with 15 vets.

To read Steve Wolf’s Harnesslink story about Grosbois, click here.

“There’s a cafeteria, and a castle that’s the home of the French Trotting Museum. I’ll be helping out Jean-Michel Bazire and hopefully I’ll do a couple of qualifying trials before the international event,” Sanderson said.

“I’ll have to learn about the starts, where they circle on the inside, then when to go when we are called up,” he said.

“It’s going to be a huge experience and I can’t wait. I’d love to think that I might get another race drive while I’m over there.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink