Herbertson bound for US and Sweden

Australia’s leading harness racing driver James Herbertson is packing his bags to spend time working in the United States and Sweden.

After taking out the Australian national drivers’ title last season with 370 wins – 100 clear of his nearest rivals – the 25-year-old is flying high again this season, with 88 wins so far.

But he is leaving it all behind, temporarily, when he departs on Sunday (Apr 13) to spend five weeks in the United States at the stable of Ron Burke, who is harness racing’s all-time leader in wins and purses (more than 15,000 wins and $335M).

Herbertson will then head to Sweden for Elitloppet, to be hosted by trainer Jörgen Westholm, who welcomed another young Victorian reinsman Ryan Sanderson last year.

Herbertson said winning the Young Guns Series in 2024, which carried the trip to Sweden as the prize, got the ball rolling.

“I’ve been wanting to do this and planning it (a trip to the US) for a while, even before I won the Young Guns.  Then when I won that, it just worked in that I could do it all together at the one time, rather than two trips with a 24-hour flight each time,” Herbertson said.

“I head out on Sunday, and I absolutely can’t wait!”

Herbertson, who is again well clear on the national leading drivers board this season, said it was a difficult decision, but an incredible opportunity.

“There’s never a good time to go as a driver, because there’s always some races that you miss out on that are out of the ordinary ones – and it happens to be the APG series while I’m away, which is a bit disappointing,” he said.

“But there’s never really the right time to go – it’s just something that if you want to do it, you’ve just got to cop it,” he said.

The opportunity to learn and further develop his craft and knowledge had driven Herbertson’s decision.

“It’s just a great opportunity to get experience and to learn as much as possible,” he said.

“You never hear of anyone who has been there have a bad word to say about it – it’s always positive.  Anyone who’s ever been will tell you that you have got to do and it, you have to experience it, and you’ve got to listen to them, I guess.”

Herbertson will work at Ron Burke’s stables and initially stay with former Aussie Brad Chisholm, who is now working in the US.

“I’ll be working for Ron, driving trackwork and picking up a few drives here and there hopefully,” Herbertson said.

“They’ll give me as much opportunity as they can without putting off their usual drivers. They’ve been quite positive about that and quite generous in that way, which is great.

“Jamie Durnberger-Smith from Summit Bloodstock has been a big part of connecting me to (American owner) Mark Weaver and to Ron Burke.  I met Mark in Queensland at the Ultimate Drivers’ Championship, and he’s been very instrumental ever since in working things out and getting everything in place,” he said.

On May 20, Herbertson will fly to Sweden just ahead of Elitloppet (May 23-25).

“I will be there working for Jörgen Westholm during Elitloppet and then for another 10 days or so after that, just learning as much as possible from him.”

Herbertson said he would be back in Australia and back on the track by mid-June.

“Hopefully people haven’t forgotten me!  So many people have been so great to me as I’ve come through and I hope I can get back into the groove without too many hassles!”

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink