Georgia Goodman drives first winner

“That was really special, yeah. Just to get that first win and to do it on one of my favourite horses,” junior harness racing driver Georgia Goodman said after her win with Secret Agent Man (Sweet Lou) at Ascot Park today.

Goodman settled her runner off the pace early with Always A Menace driven by Ellie Barron heading to the top. Secret Agent Man moved off the inside running line and sat parked for the second half of the race before proving too strong, beating Always A Menace by a length and a quarter.

SECRET AGENT MAN REPLAY

“It was always in the plan to put him in the race at some stage. He felt great and did it fairly easy.”

Goodman works for Branxholme trainer Nathan Williamson. Today was only her nineteenth race day drive and Williamson was rightly proud of his junior driver’s success.

“It developed into a sprint home and Ellie drove a great race to get around them and get to the lead. But luckily he (Secret Agent Man) had enough petrol in the tank. It was great for her to get the win. He’s a pretty good horse and we really do like him but he’s taken a bit of time and we’ve been patient with him. I think he’ll be a nice horse because he’s got a good head on him,” he said.

Goodman says she does a lot of work with Secret Agent Man.

“Ever since he was young he’s been one of my favourites so it was pretty cool to do it with him.”

Georgia’s mother Sharon and her brother James were on-course to see the win.

“It was nice to get it on Nathan’s horse and it’s nice to get that first win before she goes to the Cadet of the Year Awards,” Sharon said.

Georgia’s father Ian who trains a small team wasn’t on course, he was playing golf.

“That was the priority obviously (laughter).”

Twenty one year old Goodman who hails from Winton has been working for Williamson for three and a half years.

“With Ian having horses, she’s been interested for quite a while. She did Gateway at Nathan’s for two years before she started working for him. She had the ability to go to University, but told me she wasn’t interested,” Sharon said.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink