Refreshed Ben has fire in the belly again

There’s nothing like a treble to rekindle your interest in the ups and downs of harness racing.

Kyneton reinsman Ben Xiriha has been making the five-hour road trip to Mildura’s Friday day meetings for the past fortnight, and after landing three winners at his most recent excursion, it’s a sure bet he’s signed up for the long-term.

The 22-year-old grew up in the sport with his father Tony training big teams, but the concession driver admits he had been “losing a little bit of interest”.

“But the last fortnight’s been pretty good – I had a couple of winners last week, and then the treble at Mildura, it’s a pity every week’s not like that!” he laughed.

Xiriha, who is busy running his firewood business in his hometown and managing a couple of staff, said he had no doubt he would continue heading to Mildura on a regular basis.

The talented young driver now has 17 wins for the season, improving on his debut season record of 13, but said it was only the persistence of Mildura trainer Reece Moore that revived his interest.

“Reece had a horse in a $10,000 concession drivers’ race at Ballarat a couple of weeks ago (Jul 25) that he wanted me to drive.  I was pretty busy at work, and I had really decided that I would stop driving for a while, so I said no a couple of times.  But Reece just kept asking, even after driver changes had closed,” Xiriha said.

“I eventually told him I would, and the horse (Neds Beach (Somebeachsomewhere) won – then Reece just kept putting me on all his horses at Mildura, so I started going up,” he said.

“I had been to Mildura once or twice before, but I’d never had a winner there.  The first week (Aug 2) I had five drives and didn’t get a winner, but I thought Friday night (Aug 9) was the best book of drives I’d had there.

“I got my first Mildura winner and my first treble, so I sort of got the love back!”

Xiriha had seven engagements, picking up his first winner in the first race, Bella Abbey (Betterthancheddar) for Swan Hill trainer Joe Costa. His second and third winners for the day were Couldn’t Recommend (Modern Art) and Major Assassin (Art Major) for Moore.

“Hopefully now that I’m going up regularly, I might start to pick up a few more drives as well.  I don’t mind the tight track – if you can get a handy spot, you are always a chance,” he said.

“It’s great now that they’re going to be having the Friday day meetings.  You have to leave early and it’s still a long day, but at least you get home at midnight, not four or five in the morning, and it gets me away from the firewood and thinking about something else.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink