First it was Moonbi reinswoman Elly Chapple who took up the challenge of moving to Sydney to further her career in harness racing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now Appleby teen Maddison Simon has also followed her dream and is working for Dean and Kerry McDowell at their Mulgoa training establishment west of Sydney.
Read also:
"I am learning heaps," Simon said. "That was my plan, to get a bit more experience and to learn more."
Simon had been working with her grandfather Len Simon's team of horses at Appleby but the bright lights of Menangle called.
"I think he misses me," Simon said of her grandfather.
The 19-year-old has already had the opportunity to drive on different tracks for the McDowell stables, with two drives at Goulburn before one at Bankstown on Monday.
"I am working with new horses and driving on different tracks," she said.
Chapple, meanwhile, is certainly relishing her opportunity with the Lucky Lodge stables and secured her first winning drive on Monday at the Bankstown meeting with Don't Tell Dorothy - trained by KerryAnn Morris and raced by Chapple's mother Julie.
"I have got my first Sydney win and it was nice how it happened," Chapple said.
"I was looking for the lead and that did not happen so I just sat up outside the leader and had a bit in reserve going to the line."
From the three barrier, Don't Tell Dorothy went out strong and was posted as the $3.10 favourite.
Etiz Amodel (Seaton Grima) gained the race lead from the one barrier, with Don't Tell Dorothy placing the race pressure over most of the 1740m journey.
Don't Tell Dorothy went on for a two-metre win over Etiz Amodel, with Borders Man (David Morris) a further four metres away in third place. The mile rate was 1min 59.4sec.
"I was really happy to get my first Sydney winner with one of my own horses," Chapple said. "I haven't stop learning since I have arrived."
Chapple then fronted up to the Tuesday afternoon Menangle meeting, finishing sixth with trotter Gold Sovereign.
+++
Former Armidale residents Scott Whitten and Jodie Foster are known in harness racing circles as heading up Tumby Park Racing.
It is nice to see that Tumby Park won the Australian Pacing Gold 2yo Colt & Geldings Gold Bullion Final - a $125,000 Group 1 race - with My Ultimate Byron at Menangle on Saturday night.
My Ultimate Byron and stablemate My Ultimate Cobber, who finished third, are trained by Jarrod Alchin.
My Ultimate Byron picked up more than $68,000 for the win while My Ultimate Cobber received almost $14,000.
There was no rest for Alchin, after My Ultimate Levi qualified for the $50,000 Australian Pacing Gold Bullion Final at Albion Park on Saturday night.
My Ultimate Byron has had three race starts for three wins - two at Menangle and one at Newcastle.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News