WomenCan Teal pants are on fire!

Victoria's harness racing girls have put their foot on the accelerator and boosted the Team Teal coffers with an exceptional few days on the track.

Female drivers dominated at Ararat on Friday night, taking out six of nine races. They followed up with another half dozen at headquarters on Saturday night, then added another two to the weekend tally on Sunday at Charlton.

"We really hit form at the Ararat Cup meeting and then it continued the following night at Melton which was awesome because it's for a great cause," Team Teal ambassador Jodi Quinlan said.

Across six weeks in February and March, all reinswomen across Australia and New Zealand don the WomenCan teal pants to raise awareness and much-needed funds for ovarian cancer.

"The campaign is a partnership with the harness racing industry in Australia and New Zealand-and apart from being a great contributor to fundraising to support women with ovarian cancer and their families, it's also about women looking after their health," Quinlan said.

This year joining Quinlan as HRV Team Teal ambassadors are Kate Gath, Kerryn Manning and Jackie Barker. For every winner they land, along with other Victorian reinswomen, HRV and wagering partner TABcorp each commit $200 when a race is won through the campaign.

After last Wednesday night's Shepparton meeting (10 days into the campaign), 12 Victorian girls had combined to register 19 wins for a total of $3800. Then in a hectic flurry over just the next five days, they more than doubled this to land a further 22 victories – and drive their Team Teal tally to $8200.

Heading the charge was champion Kate Gath, of Long Forest, who had singles at Melton on Thursday afternoon and then the Ararat Cup meeting, before a sensational treble at Saturday night's metropolitan Melton fixture.

Gath landed early race-to-race winners in Majestic Hurricane and He's Under Wraps and later in the night got the money with Eureka.

Quinlan and former world champion Kerryn Manning, who recently landed the 4000th win of her career, also played their part with three wins apiece.

Six reinswomen added their names to the winners' table: Shannon O'Sullivan; Lisa Miles; Michelle Wight; Codie Rauchenberger; and mother and daughter duo Rita and Monique Burnett. They joined Laura Crossland, Olivia Weidenbach, Anne-Maree Conroy, Denbeigh Wade, Donna Castles and Juanita Breen, who also have one apiece.

Wight, sister of Kerryn Manning, was an excited winner at her home track at Ararat when she was successful with three-year-old bay gelding Morsure Damour.

The young trotter, known as "Benny" at home, was not only having just his second race start, but, at the generous odds of 30/1, downed the warm favorite.

The Team Teal campaign was created by well-known Victorian industry supporter Duncan McPherson OAM who lost his wife Lyn to ovarian cancer in 2010. It expanded to NSW in 2016 and then all other states in 2017. The following year New Zealand got on board.

The success of Team Teal just doesn't rely on sponsorship by principal sponsors, but also on the generosity of the wider harness racing community. Clubs are urged to match donations, while some trainers sponsor the wins of their drivers-whether it be male or female. There's also teal awareness ribbons and wristbands available, while the Mildura club has encouraged trainers and strappers to get into Team Teal T Shirts for the duration of the campaign.

The initiative helps fund research and supports the Research Nurse Grant Program and the Survivors Teaching Students education and prevention program.

To support the initiative, go to: https://www.womencan.org.au/event/team-teal-racing

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura