O’Reilly, Hackett and Meredith driving at AYDC

The all-conquering Sarah O’Reilly will once again be a part of the Kiwi harness racing challenge at the up-coming Australasian Young Drivers’ Championship in Queensland.

Run in conjunction with the Inter Dominions, the AYDC will feature three nights of heats before the final at Albion Park in Brisbane on December 16.

Throughout the series the winner will get a maximum of 17 points, through to one point for the driver finishing last.

O’Reilly will be joined in the three-strong New Zealand team by Crystal Hackett and Zev Meredith.

Hackett qualifies as the North Island’s top junior while O’Reilly qualifies as the South Island leading junior and Meredith sealed his trip across the Tasman by finishing second to Sarah who was already qualified at the New Zealand Junior Drivers’ Championships which concluded at Methven last month.

O’Reilly has 69 wins this year and is guaranteed to win her third successive Junior Drivers’ Premiership this year to go along with her three consecutive wins in the NZ Junior Drivers’ Championships.

O’Reilly is a previous AYDC winner. In 2019 she pipped local star Cameron Hart, the winning driver of last Tuesday’s New Zealand Cup with Australian visitor Swayzee.

Other New Zealanders to have won the championship include : Sheree Tomlinson (2018), Robbie Close (2015), Andre Poutama (2014), Joshua Dickie (2011) and Jay Abernethy (2006).

Last year Canterbury-based Sam Thornley was leading for the majority of the championship, only to be pipped by Australian Tayla French.

From Harness Racing New Zealand