Kez still writing the recipe for success

In her 25-plus years in the sport, world champion harness racing driver Kerryn Manning remembers only once being told she should be "back in the kitchen" rather than competing on the track with the men.

The comment was made at a Horsham meeting more years ago than Manning cares to remember, and she admits it took her back a bit.

But Manning, who notched up an International Women's Day double yesterday (somewhat ironically at Horsham) considers herself fortunate at how egalitarian the sport is for women in Australia, and particularly in Victoria.

"Back in the day when I started (in the 1990s) some places still didn't have female driver's rooms. Often, I'd be the only girl, or there'd be only one or two of us – nowadays you can hardly get a spot for your bag in the rooms at some tracks!" she laughed.

"But that aside, even right back in the beginning people didn't really make too much comment about women and girls competing. We were generally pretty respected and treated as equals – I think we were pretty lucky," she said.

Undoubtedly, though, Manning and the Australian female harness racing pioneers who came before her have also made their own luck.

Female drivers were first registered to compete against men in Victoria in 1978 and drivers such as Roma Pocock, Gaita Pullicino, Debbie Wicks and D'Arne Bellman made their mark as determined competitors. They did the "hard yards" for women in the sport, but each new generation of stars such as Manning, Kate Gath, Amanda Turnbull and Danielle Hill have each set new benchmarks.

Manning won her first race at 16 and has since achieved almost every award available in the sport, recently becoming the most successful reinswoman in the world with more than 4000 wins.

For International Women's Day she was a guest of honor yesterday at Horsham's annual Team Teal women's day finding time to do a celebrity interview at a lunch for around 60 women – then duly scoring a driving double.

A horse Manning trains also won a heat of the 2021 Horsham Invitational Drivers' Challenge, with Western Victorian reinsman Jason Lee wearing the purple International Women's Day colors.

Jason Lee was successful in the International Women’s Day silks on Yappas Courage for David Kemp

The invitational, contested over four races at the Horsham meeting, was run as a Victorian-only event for the first time this year (due to COVID uncertainties). Lee took out the title, with 28 points, on a countback from Jodi Quinlan.

Manning said although she had always felt accepted as a competitor in the sport, she is surprised that women are not more prominent elsewhere in the world.

"When I went to Sweden and Norway to compete (with legendary trotter Knight Pistol in 1997) I was a bit of a novelty not just because I was an Aussie, but also because I was a female driver," she said.

"Even when I went back a couple of years ago for the Legends Invitational Drivers race in Stockholm, it seemed to still be that girls ride in the Monties fairly often, but they don't get opportunities as drivers so much which was a bit of a surprise."

Manning said despite the ready acknowledgment of female drivers in Australia, there has still been a lot of change in her years in the sport.

"It's one of the few sporting fields where you are literally just one of the blokes. It wasn't like that so much in the beginning, but there are more women coming into the sport all the time," she said.

"While it used to be a bit of a novelty for a female driver to win a race – now we quinella and trifecta races all the time. Out here, we're just another driver."

Horsham HRC president Terry Lewis with competitors at the Drivers Invitational (L-R) Michael Stanley, Kate Gath, John Caldow, Kerryn Manning, Greg Sugars, winner Jason Lee, James Herbertson, Josh Aiken, Jodi Quinlan and Jack Laugher

Notably, women trained three of the eight winners at Horsham yesterday (Margaret Lee, Kerryn Manning and Karlene Tindale).

Manning won Race 2 with Lord Chancellor (Majestic Son – Chancery Lane (Torado Hanover) for her dad Peter Manning and Race 8 on Highway To Heaven (Christian Cullen – Last Port of Call (Live Or Die) for Margaret Lee. Ironically, female drivers filled the trifecta places in both races (Kate Gath/Tina Ridis and Jodi Quinlan/Kate Gath respectively).

View the full results for Horsham click here!

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura