Hibell’s Hawera Cup dream

Twenty three year old Leah Hibell is into her third season of harness racing driving. From just ninety seven drives the Cambridge based junior driver has driven six winners and has been placed a further thirty times.

Leah grew up in Whakatane, was educated at Edgecumbe College and was involved with horses from a young age.

“I did show hunting and jumping until I was eighteen, then I started doing the harness horses a bit more. Harness racing is pretty demanding so I couldn’t do much else outside of the sport but I really love it,” she said.

Leah has no family background in harness racing and it was by sheer chance that she got involved in the industry.

“Graham Bowen picked up a horse for me through his transport company (TFS Horse Transport) and asked me if I wanted to do a yearling prep for him. I did that and because he has horses with Nicky (Chilcott) and she was short staffed, I started working part time for her.”

She worked for Chilcott for twelve months before moving to Graeme Rogerson and Dylan Fergusons’ stable at Tuhikaramea.

“I was there for three years. I wasn’t getting too many drives and Nicky asked me if I wanted to come back and be her foreman, and I’ve been there for over a year and a half now.”

Her first winner was on five year old trotting mare Del Shannon (Muscle Hill) trained by Chilcott at Cambridge in October last year.

“It was amazing. Nicky was on the track because she was driving Prince Envy (Majestic Son) but he galloped away. I was so emotional because I’d been driving for about a year and half.”

Hibell says she’s indebted to Chilcott who has spent a lot of time teaching her the skills of race day driving.

“She’s taken a lot of time to teach me, and I’ve definitely come on leaps and bounds since I first started. I’m a lot more confident in my driving now than I used to be thanks to her. She said ‘you’re going to make the wrong decisions but I’m not going to be angry at you.’ She’s helped me learn from those mistakes. “

Like most junior drivers she’d like to drive in the Junior Drivers Championship.

“I’m doing okay at the moment. It can be a bit hard being against some of those more experienced juniors who get a few more opportunities.”

Leah is currently in fifth place in the North Island section of the New Zealand Junior Drivers Championship with ninety four points. The top three North Island drivers after the 17^th of September will drive in the series.

Leah Hibell at the washup – Photo HRNZ

Hibell has recently returned from a ten day work experience with Peter McMullen and Cantal Turpin in Australia, her prize for winning the Revell Douglas Memorial Series.

“That was an amazing experience, and it was quite hard to come home. It was cool going over there and watching their style of driving. They don’t push out as much. I asked Pete why that was and he said that the races are run quite a bit quicker in Australia, so you don’t make as many moves.”

The McMullen Racing Stable is an hour out of Brisbane. Peter McMullen has won the last three consecutive State Drivers Premierships while Turpin has trained over 1000 winners.

While in Australia Hibell drove in a couple of races.

“It was just great to get out and do it really.”

She says one day she’d like to get more into training standardbreds.

“Nicky and I have talked about it and I’d love to go into partnership with her at some stage.”

And if there was one race she’d like to win, which would it be?

“It probably sounds like a bit of a weird one to pick (laughter) but they have a big Cup down at Hawera each year. I’d love to win that one because there’s a set of owners down there, the Messengers, and they’ve supported me quite a lot.”

The Messengers own Katies Princess (Raging Bull), Village Rebel (Raging Bull), Messenger Buoy (Sunshine Beach) and Vincents Girl (Vincent) all of which are trained by Chilcott.

Hibell says the stable is currently working twenty two horses and the first part of her working day is between 5.30am and 11.30am. She has a break and returns for a couple more hours at 2.30pm.

Leah says Blazing Louie (Sweet Lou) is the nicest horse she’s driven in her career to date.

“I’ve also driven Sacred Mountain (Muscle Hill) in a trial and she definitely gives you a perspective on what a very nice trotter is.”

Although not directly involved in harness racing, Leah’s father has become more interested now that his daughter is driving.

“Every time I win a race he buys a new pair of shoes. He’s got six pair now (laughter). He bought a pair of jandals after one of my wins. It just depends on what he fancies.”

Let’s hope Dad adds to his footwear collection before the end of the season and that he can proudly wear a new pair of shoes (not jandals) to the next Hawera Cup!

NB: Leah’s younger sister Aria is just starting Kidz Kartz.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink