Play it again Sam!

Harness racing driver Sam Ottley admits that getting her 700^th win across the line this last month has been a battle.

The Canterbury based driver sat at 698 and 699 for a while but on Sunday at Motukarara she achieved her milestone driving the Kevin Fairbairn trained trotter Holly Highlander (Creatine), coming in to win by a nose.

“It’s great to get the monkey off my back,” she said.

Ottley is the first New Zealand reinswoman to reach 700 wins the race will understandably get a few replays.

“It’s pretty cool to be the first female to do it. You hear people say that you’re an idol for the young ones, which is pretty cool to hear. There’s certainly a lot more females out there kicking goals every week.”

Sam’s first winner was at Kurow in August 2008 when she reined Nigel Paul (Precious Romance) to win for her mother Denise. The gelding paid $36. 90 and $5.80.

“You dream of driving your first winner so to do it on my first drive was really special”.

Nigel Paul had raced at Addington on the Thursday, finishing third in the hands of Denise.

“He was a nice horse to drive but a bit of character and he only really liked Mum. He had good manners and was the perfect horse to start out on and learn.”

Sam was very involved in pony club prior to getting into harness racing fulltime.

“I did Springston Trophies and Show Jumping Champs. When I started working in the stables and driving, I couldn’t do both so I had to pick what I wanted to do”.

Ottley says she’ll always be indebted to Bob Latimer and Tony Soal, two South Canterbury horsemen who encouraged her into her career.

“I got my stable hands license so I could drive at the Orari workouts, and it was Bob who pushed for Mum to actually let me go for it. Being a little protective, she was always going to worry about me being out there driving. I remember Bob said if she didn’t let me get it he’d make it happen (laughter). Then Tony gave me a lot of drives at those workouts when I was really young and starting out. Two good people.”

Once she left school Sam went to work for Timaru trainer Murray Tapper.

“I always had the bug and that’s what I always wanted to do. Murray only had a small team but we built it up. It was only him and I.”

2009 was her first season of driving and Ottley’s second, third and fourth winners were Domination and Stylish Monarch (2) both trained by Tapper.

She worked for Tapper for about three years before moving to Canterbury to work for Colin and Julie DeFilippi.

“They were very good to me. Colin and Julie put me on the map really and their owners backed me. I won a junior race on Miss Elsie, and I had two drives on Stent when Colin was suspended. We just got beaten in a Group One (NZ Trotting Championship) by Vulcan who was flying at the time and had just won Group races in Aussie.”

Sam says her driving went to the next level under the watchful eye of Colin.

“He’s just got a knack for teaching young people. I learned so much there.”

She finished up at the DeFilippi’s in 2014.

“It was my last season as a junior. I was having a crack at the Junior Drivers Premiership and Colin and Julie didn’t have a lot of numbers. I ended up at the Dunn’s for what was meant to be a short stint. A good friend of mine Lauren Lester was working out there at the time and we swapped. She went to the DeFilippi’s, and I went to the Dunns.”

Ottley won the premiership that season with fifty two winners, ten clear of Sailesh Abernethy.

“I hadn’t told many people, but it was a big goal of mine to win that year. In the previous year a lot of the top juniors (Matthew Williamson and Zachery Butcher) had finished their time. It was very satisfying to pull that one off.”

After leaving Dunns Ottley went to work for Mark Jones who at the time was operating two stables, one at Woodend Beach and the other at Burnham.

“Regan Todd was looking after Woodend and they had a couple of good horses out there in Master Lavros and Savepatrol. Regan was doing a lot of travelling with them so Mark asked me to go to the beach. I stayed out there for about three years and ended by working for Regan before I moved back to the Burnham base.”

It’s proved to be a great association. Jones has provided Sam with 209 winners.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Mark’s support. I pretty much drive the team. I’m pretty lucky that his owners support me as well.”

Outside her wins For Jones, Sam has driven winners for Michael House (28), Regan Todd (23), Kevin Townley (22), Denise Ottley (22), Robert Dunn (21), Lyndon Bond (20), and Colin and Julie DeFilippi (18).

Jones provided Ottley with her first and only Group One winner in Rocker Band which won the Group One NRM Evolve Four Year Old Diamond Cambridge.

“Ricky (May) had been driving her. I got to drive her at the trials as a four year old and her first run back down south which she won. I said ‘no ones getting in this seat – she’s mine.’ Winning at the Jewels was unreal.”

Rocker Band came from back beyond midfield to get up to beat Expressive Victor by a neck, running the 1609 metres in 1-53.3.

Another group winner for Sam was the Kevin Townley trained trotter Vacation Hill which won the G2 ‘What The Hill’ New Zealand Trotting Oaks.

“Kev has been great. When Dexter (Dunn) went overseas I picked up a few of his drives and she was a nice one to get on.”

Other group winners have been:

Destiny Jones in the G3 Alabar DG Jones Trotting Cup.

Burnham Boy G3 Alabar Southern Supremacy Stakes Final.

Majestic Lavros Majestic Son South Bay Trotters Cup.

Di Caprio G3 Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup.

Jones and Ottley have had good success in the Southern Belle Speed Series Final at Winton winning three times, with Rocker Band in 2016, Spirit Of Delight 2018 and Plutonian Lady in 2021.

Most of Sam’s wins have occurred at Addington (212) followed by Ascot Park Invercargill (46), Motukarara (46) and Ashburton (38).

At this stage Ottley says she has no plans to venture into the training of standardbreds.

“I love the driving and the travelling that goes with it. I’ll leave the training up to the professionals.”

Ottley is encouraging of the current junior driver champion Sarah O’Reilly.

“To see what she’s doing now is great and she passes on knowledge to me now. I love to help people out any way I can, even if it’s a small thing. To see a driver get better is pretty cool.”

Now that Ottley has achieved two of her goals in surpassing Nicky Chilcott’s record and reaching 700 winners, what’s next on her aspirations list?

“Finding the next good horse to win a Listed or Group One win again.”

She says the sport is tough, but she wouldn’t wish to do anything else.

“As those that are in the game know, it’s long hours and mentally tough at times. But the good days outweigh the bad days.”

And she appreciates the many good people who support her.

“Obviously Mum’s my number one supporter and she always watches all the races. I’ve got plenty of good mates and the work crew are always supportive. There’s a great bunch round at Mark’s. We have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink