Through the fire: Meredith finds his happy place once more

Alexandra Park is set to host the first G1 for trotting mares in the history of New Zealand harness racing with the inaugural $100,000 Queen Of Diamonds.

For young North Island horseman, Zev Meredith, the feature trot will see the 22 year old line up his maiden Group One starter as a trainer, something of a milestone having only taken his license to do so at the beginning of the season.

One More Moment’s (Majestic Son) place in the feature trot this evening represents much more than just a training milestone for Meredith.

An even greater achievement is the fact that after a tumultuous period in his life, for the first time in a long time, Zev finds himself back in his happy place.

He’s done so with a profound realisation that something needed to change, and for a young person to not only realise that, but act on it, shows an incredible amount of self-awareness and bravery. To go through the fire and come out the other side even stronger is an achievement worthy of a G1 itself, and the excitement in the voice of Meredith as he explained his journey would indicate as much.

“In full honesty I had a wee bit of a rough trot with my mental health there for a while and I just thought I needed to take a step back which is why I left Arna Donnelly’s,” said Meredith.

“I wasn’t enjoying driving. I was enjoying taking a horse to the races that I was training, but there was a bit of a mental block with my driving which was hard to explain. I realised it was a bit of an issue when I was headed down for my first drive in a Group One at Addington Raceway and I wasn’t looking forward to it like I knew I should have.

“My partner, Neita (Balle), and her family have been great support. And the same with Arna. I talked to her a lot about what I was going through so she wasn’t completely blindsided by what ultimately ended up happening with me leaving her barn. Even when I made that decision, she was really supportive and understood.

“I realised I wasn’t in the right headspace to perform my best on the track, so I took a step back and tried to get in my happy place again and started mucking around with training a few. I am loving it. Even a few of the things I was lacking going into driving, I am getting back with her going to the races tonight.

“I’ve got a bit of nerves and a bit of worry where I felt I was losing that care and feeling when I was driving. It’s kind of nice to feel those feelings again,” he said.

His former mentor, Arna Donnelly was equally chuffed for Meredith and spoke fondly of a likeable and talented ‘rogue’ who undoubtedly had some room for personal growth having learnt some life lessons the hard way.

“Zev is a good kid and I enjoyed working with him for the couple of years he was with me,” said Donnelly.

“He was a pleasure to work with and always happy and we had a lot of laughs and a lot of good times. It’s just very unfortunate I guess his demons caught up with him and he made a few poor choices along the way as well.

“I hope he can sort of turn that around by stepping back and doing what he’s doing. I really do hope he finds his way back to the driving side of things as well, he is a good little driver and has a good set of hands on him and the horses run for him. So it’s a bit of a shame because it would have been a great time to have been in my barn with some nice horses around us.

“He is a clever little fella who can sort of turn his hand to anything. It didn’t even have to be horses. It could be fencing, electrician work, plumbing, putting taps in. He is just one of those kids who is very natural at anything and I wish him all the best, particularly with his Group One runner tomorrow night, it will be really exciting for him,” she said.

Having decided to step away and focus on finding joy in the pressure cooker environment that harness racing can entail, Meredith ditched his driving gear in favour of focusing on training.

Finding owners can be difficult for a trainer at any stage of life, but particularly one starting from scratch.

The journey north for One More Moment is a classic case of one door closing, and another opening with a serendipitous series of events playing out for the trotter to end up in Meredith’s colours.

“Neita, my partner and her father Derek have a pretty good association with the Baynes’ family going back a few years. Neita was sent Boss Kenny on a deal from Kenny and Jo Baynes and they are still on the deal for the lease with her and we are talking with them most days.

“Kenny and Jo have a fair few horses around them in the paddock so I was at Kenny for another horse and we worked out a deal that I could get One More Moment (Majestic Son) up here and she has been a nice little project.

“In the last few weeks he has sent me a few more horses and I am now up in Pukekohe at Derek’s place training and doing my own thing. All my horses are Kenny’s and it should be called Bayne’s Racing Stables instead of Meredith Racing Stables,” he laughed.

One More Moment has been in the care of Meredith for just five starts in the North Island having formerly been in the Southland barn of Brett Gray.

The lightly tried six-year-old mare will be handled by champion Australian reinsman, Greg Sugars, and like her trainer, finds herself in the zone ahead of the biggest challenge of her short career to date.

“It’s funny how it works out. By taking the step back, other good things have come from it and while I only have the one horse at the races, I have managed to get a Group One runner from just my 19^th starter and things are looking up,” said Meredith.

“In fairness she had done a great job for Brett, she had won three from twelve for him and when Kenny mentioned her to me, I looked her up and if you look at her breeding she is a three-quarter in blood to Oscar which is hard to go past. She has also copped the right handed way of going pretty good and quite clearly has been racing well at The Park.

“The ability is definitely there. I know she has only been racing in the 40-60 grades, but she is more than capable on her day. Last start she actually got home in 57.2 and 27.9. The motor is there and the ability is there and I did nominate her for the Dominion.

“Ultimately they are horses and anything could happen. She could get things wrong, other horses could get in her way, and you always need a bit of luck. I also might not have her at her best on the day and that is just horses I guess,” he said profoundly.

Meredith doesn’t have to look very far to find some sage advice when it comes to preparing a G1 trotting mare. His father in law (for a lack of a better term) conditioned the great Martina H, one of a handful of mares to have done the Dominion/Rowe Cup double in her career.

It’s one thing to be given advice, but often for a young person there can be some difficulty in taking it. Zev has been leaning into the knowledge and experience he has available to him and even concedes that Derek might actually know a thing or two, even if he hasn’t always been so obvious!

“Absolutely. Don’t get me wrong. I obviously worked for Derek in the past and he is a great horseman and I have learnt plenty off him,” said Meredith.

“It’s funny because there were probably a few things he told me going back a few years where I just thought, whatever Derek, that is silly.

“But as time has passed and I have had time to ponder it, you look back and the things he told me two or three years ago, you start looking at them now and start saying to yourself, ok, I see where you are coming from and you were right,” he laughed.

I’m sure a lot of parents, coaches and mentors will read that and chuckle also. With age comes experience, but also perspective. At just 22, Meredith is proving to be a quick learner.

As they say, growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

While Meredith will continue to face challenges in his life, it’s refreshing to hear a young person facing up to their shortcomings and dealing with them in a positive light.

Standing on the other side with a smile and renewed sense of purpose makes Meredith a G1 winner before the tapes even dispatch for tonight’s inaugural Queen Of Diamonds.

For complete Alexandra Park fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink