Tim O'Connor
Teenage driver Olivia Weidenbach wasn’t afraid to serve it up to the more experienced reinsmen in the last race at Melton on Friday and she was rewarded with a fighting performance from her charge Untitled.
The pair combined for a long-odds success in the Prydes Easifeed Pace and it was a deserved one as the seven-year-old had to do it tough throughout the 1720m journey.
Weidenbach fired her horse off the arm from the outside of the front row and poured on the pressure to Zac Phillips and leader Arabella Star. She refused to let John Nicholson and Bullys Delight take up her spot outside the front-runner, which left them three wide for much of the last lap. Arabella Star eventually threw up the white flag as Untitled surged to the front approaching the home turn, then Bullys Delight momentarily took over as Justice Served and John Justice tried to fight on out wider. But with Weidenbach throwing everything at her horse, the Tony Romeo-trained gelding beat off those rivals and held out the late sprint from Arggghhh, which missed by a head on the line.
“Credit to the horse. He just went super. He got me to the line. He just keeps trying and trying and digging,” Weidenbach said.
“I like to mix it with the big boys and I know that I got (the horse) to do it.”
Weidenbach, who hails from a well-known harness racing family, is now working for John and Maree Caldow at their Kurunjang property and loving her opportunities in the sulky.
“John is really good. He helps me with a lot of my drives,” Weidenbach said.
“If I have a bad drive, he says ‘pick yourself up for the next one. You don’t let it bother you in the next race’.”
While many of the plaudits went to Weidenbach for her aggressive drive, Untitled deserves plenty of the credit. After doing most of his racing in New South Wales and Queensland, the son of Live Or Die registered his first triumph since joining the Romeo stable and 22nd overall from 112 starts.
Weidenbach’s mentor John Caldow had a day out in the gig on Friday, driving the first three winners on the card. He partnered Ian Raymond (Maree Caldow), Georgias Pride (Mario Magri) and Chrissy Divinyl (Ian Caruana) all to victory.
Phillips then drove the next three horses to win, with success aboard Manthadee (Drew Georgeallis), Alice Kay (Adam Kelly) and Rishi (Lance Justice).
Racing returns to Tabcorp Park Melton next Friday for another afternoon program.
