Teenager ticking off plenty of milestones

Teenage Victorian harness racing reinsman Ryan Sanderson is clocking up the miles – and the milestones!

Sanderson’s first metropolitan driving double at Victorian headquarters Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night came after his first group race success, his third Pacing Cup victory and less than three weeks after his 100th career win.

“I think I’ve had about four metropolitan wins now, so getting a double at Melton was an absolute highlight. I thought my four drives all were pretty good chances – no certainties but I thought I was in there to have some fun! It was great,” Sanderson, of Charlton, said.

The 18-year-old set the scene for a big night by steering the Julie Douglas-trained Captain Confetti to victory in the opening race, then followed up later with a win aboard Chissy in the $20,000 Aldebaran Park Trot.

Captain Confetti (Sweet Lou – Abby Story (Mach Three) is prepared at Bendigo by the State’s leading trainer Julie Douglas and the win was his seventh career victory. Chissy (Danny Bouchea – Cheque Again (Wagon Apollo) shot up the sprint lane at Melton to record his 12th career win, and is trained at Kooreh, near St Arnaud, by Jason McNaulty.

The metro double was six for the week for Sanderson (he also had a double at Mildura on Tuesday night, and one each at Bendigo on Friday and Horsham yesterday). A good week does no harm to self-belief, and the quietly spoken reinsman is growing noticeably in confidence.

“I’m still learning, and I need to keep getting better at a few things, but I am getting more confidence and I am getting on a bit more horsepower as well. So I think it’s a combination of things,” he said.

“I am getting some great opportunities from some top trainers who are trusting me with good horses. It comes down to every little thing and it just all adds up. I’m really enjoying the run I am having at the moment, though.”

Although the young driver is kept busy in the mornings with stable duties for his parents Shane and Naomi, more often than not, it’s then off to the races, at times with his younger sister and fellow concession driver Abby on board.

“The driving is starting to get a bit more consistent for me which I am loving. For me most weeks now I’m probably at around five or six meetings a week but it comes and goes. One week I will have quite a few and the next week will be a bit quieter,” he said.

“Basically, I go wherever the drives are though, and Charlton is a pretty good place to be for that. It’s three hours to Mildura, three and a bit to Cranbourne and other than that, everything else is closer.

“I’ve lost my five-point concession driver claim in the country and even though I can still get a three-claim, that’s not used as often. I still have the full metropolitan claim, though and that was the case with three that I drove on Saturday.”

Despite ticking off the career goals, Sanderson is, for the moment, just enjoying the ride.

“It’s good to be driving for new people and bigger stables because I’m getting good feedback and I’m just working on keeping the momentum going, and hopefully winning some more feature races,” he said.

Among his favourite victories, Sanderson listed the previous Saturday night’s win at Melton for Shane Sanderson on Platinum Stride (Captain Treacherous – Southwind Arden (Bettors Delight). The pair teamed up again yesterday at Horsham to record another victory in the Hyland Race Colors Pace.

“Dad has some nice two-year-olds coming up and has some more racehorses not too far away, so I’m looking forward to that too,” Ryan said.

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink