If you work hard, eventually you will reap the rewards - and that is what has happened to 18-year-old reinsman Blake Hughes.
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Last Saturday night at the Club Menangle meeting, Hughes won the Harness Racing NSW Rising Star Championship behind the Roy Roots Jnr-trained Marty Major. He will carry that title for the next year.
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It was a well-deserved win and a great achievement for Hughes, who also secured his first Saturday night Metropolitan win.
Marty Major had an all-the-way win, in the slick time of 1min 52.2sec for 1609m, after commencing from the five barrier and crossing straight to the lead.
Hughes described Marty Major as "fast off the gate and very tough".
It has certainly been a stellar season for Hughes, who drove five winners on one program at Tamworth, secured the driver's premiership at Newcastle and is set to accept the Multiquip drivers premiership award next Friday night at the Tamworth Harness Racing Club awards night.
At Tamworth last season, he drove 43 winners.
After the Menangle win, it was revealed that Hughes has left the stables of his mentor Clayton Harmey at Cessnock and relocated to Tamworth, along with his partner Jemma Coney. Coney finished sixth in the Rising Star Championship Pace at Menangle on Saturday.
Hughes' elder brother, Jake, finished fourth.
Hughes is in sixth place and third place on the NSW state drivers premiership and the NSW junior drivers premiership, respectively.
It will be a change of pace for Hughes with the move to Tamworth. And after such a high-pressure year in the industry, the youngster is looking to take up employment in Tamworth and gain his trainer's licence.
Coney has also had a great season and is set to pick up trophies next Friday night from the Tamworth HRC: she won the under-23 junior drivers premiership and the Johns Auto Service local female drivers premiership.
She is currently sitting on 22 winning drives, equal with her sister, Madi Young, on the Harness Racing NSW leading female drivers premiership.
Her latest win was at Tamworth last week in the Hydes Hides by M&M Pace, when she piloted her own pacer Britney Jane. It was the horse's eighth wins for the season.
Madi Young also drove a winner at the Tamworth meeting, when Alliyahs Choice took out the PeterMac Photography Ladyship Pace.
The Indigenous Drivers Invitational at Menangle on Saturday was won by Jess Prior, who claimed her second title in the series' 10-year history.
