Australian harness racing currently boasts a plethora of talented drivers in the 20-25 age bracket. Those who appear regularly on metropolitan tracks enjoy the bulk of available media attention. Those who choose to participate away from the major tracks are deprived of the recognition their talents warrant. There’s no better example of the latter in NSW than Maitland based twenty four year old Brad Elder, who reeled off a stunning seven win haul over two meetings last week.
It was just another day at the office for Brad and his father Darren when they embarked on a three hour truck journey to Tamworth on March 23rd with eight horses on board. Brad had a busy day ahead with drives in all eight races. He had no way of knowing those eight drives would produce his best ever result for an individual meeting. He won on all three of his own stable runners Seamark, Im Boo and Big Skewy, while wins on Tulhurst Blaster for local trainer Tony Missen and Nightwatch Star for his dad gave him five for the day. He’d won four races in a day on six occasions but this was his first driving quintet. He says it should have happened at a Newcastle meeting just under two years ago.
Win number 3 at Tamworth on Nightwatch Star - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.
“I won races on What Now Shannon, CC Jones, A Paradigm Shift and Its Allabout Alice, but I was something beaten on Baby Ginnie in a mares race halfway through the programme. She chimed in three wide on the turn and looked all over a winner, but started to hang out on straightening for home. She kept drifting all the way down the straight and finished up in the middle of the track. She went under by only a head to Brie and was a good thing beaten, but that’s racing. I’ll never forget that night because my grandmother on Mum’s side was laid to rest that morning. It was as though she was helping me to get those winners home. I thought of her when the five winners finally came up at Tamworth last week.”
Win number 4 on a memorable day at Tamworth with Im Boo NZ - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.
A little over twenty four hours after the Tamworth meeting the Elder juggernaut continued at Newcastle where, between them the family harnessed up an amazing total of fourteen runners. Darren had nine starters, Brad produced four and sister Melanie contributed with Man Of Braavos in an early race. Brad drove eight of the horses, while freelance drivers handled the remainder. His statistics at the end of the night read two wins, three seconds and one third. Both winners Rocktagonal and Just Won More are trained by his father. Seven wins in two days is a massive statement from any young driver.
The hereditary factor in the families of harness horsemen and horsewomen has been prevalent since the sport began in this country. You could fill a page with the names of current trainers and drivers who are third and fourth generation trotting participants. Brad Elder is no exception. His grandfather Brian trained and drove horses successfully over a long period of years, and has been fortunate enough to put the polish on a handful of outstanding performers. Brian would probably plump for the brilliant Stature filly Second Dollar as his headline act. He was the trainer for fifteen of her twenty wins which included a Tasmanian Oaks, a Launceston 3YO Fillies Championship, and a Harold Park Sires Stakes 3YO Fillies Final in 2007. She was driven in the aforementioned by the late Gavin Lang, while Darren Elder steered her to nine wins including the Newcastle Oaks. Second Dollar also posted seventeen minor placings and accumulated a very healthy $222,000.
Brian also prepared prolific winners like Gransha and Laagarrific who won almost thirty races between them. Now in his early eighties and very involved in the careers of his son and grandson, Brian is a regular at the stables where he seems to get caught with the jobs that others don’t want. He’s first into the truck when a trip to Tamworth or Newcastle is in the offing, and his help through the course of a busy race night, is invaluable. His opinion is sought by Darren and Brad should a problem arise with any of the horses.
Here's the Tamworth quintet! Big Skewy gives the 24yo his best career result to date - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.
At 54 Darren Elder ranks among the most experienced of harness horsemen in regional NSW. He has 512 driving wins on the board and 469 as a trainer. He rates Second Dollar, Shannonsablast and Special Albert as the best he’s driven in races. Darren was trainer Bill Dawson’s “go to” driver early in Special Albert’s career, and was fortunate enough to win six races on the talented horse. Special Albert won an amazing 42 races with 28 placings for $382,000. He was going well enough in 2008 to make the Miracle Mile field, and wasn’t disgraced in finishing sixth of eight behind Divisive. “He was without a doubt the fastest horse off the arm I’ve ever driven,” said Darren. “He could lead from any front row draw whenever the trainer decided to go forward.”
Shannonsablast was a remarkably consistent horse who bowed out in late 2019 with an astonishing record of 195 starts for 36 wins, a whopping 64 placings and $433,437 in prize money. Perhaps the best acknowledgement of his talent and durability is the fact that around 130 of his lifetime starts were on the Menangle track. “We calculated when he finished racing that he’d travelled a total of 60,000 kms to and from Menangle during his long career. I think I won around 14 races on him, but once Brad gained some experience I was struggling to get a drive,” said Darren. “He gave the young bloke some great thrills at Menangle. I’m sure he’ll have a few things to say about our stable favourite.”
Shannonsablast was a wonderful flag bearer for the Elder stable. Here he is after one of his many Menangle wins. Darren had the drive on this occasion - courtesy Club Menangle.
Youngsters born into the harness racing environment are apt to go one way or the other when it’s time to plan their futures. Some shun a career with horses, but Brad Elder was never going to stray far from the world of harness racing. He experienced the unimaginable thrill of driving his first winner on the occasion of his sixteenth birthday. He led throughout to win the David Fleming Memorial at Newcastle on the well named Modern Art mare Paintmeacanvas. His progress since that May night in 2014 has been quite remarkable. His Newcastle double on Friday night took him to a very impressive 533 winners with one outright Newcastle driver’s premiership on the board, and a dead heat with senior reinsman Mark Callaghan in another.
At this early stage of his career Brad says Bright Energy and Shannonsablast are the best he’s had the good fortune to drive. Thanks to the generosity of his dad, he drove Bright Energy frequently and posted twelve wins on the consistent gelding including a Gr 3 Breeders Challenge 2YO Regional Final, and a Gr 3 R.C. Simpson Sprint. On another occasion he ran Ignatius to a head in a Gr 1 Breeders Challenge 4YO Final at Menangle in a slick 1.51.6.
It will take a special horse to displace Shannonsablast as his all time favourite. Brad won twelve races on the tough-as-teak son of Four Starzzz Shark and still delights in talking about his unusual racing technique. “To begin with he was a dreadful track worker,” said Brad. “Until we got used to his lazy attitude we used to worry that something was wrong with the horse. He was the same in his races for three quarters of the trip, before suddenly switching on. He’d be off the bit in every race at Menangle until they got to the cages at the 500m. Suddenly he’d fly onto the bit and from there home he’d give you everything. He was a horse you had to know.”
He'd driven four winners in a day on 6 occasions but this was his first quintet - courtesy PeterMac Photography.
Brad decided to apply for his trainer’s licence as recently as last September. With the support of friends and new clients who came on board, he was able to build up a team of ten horses and that’s the number he’s currently working. “I’m based at the family property at Louth Park about 2kms from the centre of Maitland,” says Brad. “When you include my father’s team we have thirty nine horses in work, but we all hop in and it’s a real team effort. We have the support of three dedicated people who all know what they’re doing. Bevan Pringle came to help me when Maitland was under water last year and is still on the team. Cooper Griffiths who’s a very capable horseman is working his way through the compulsory trial drives and can’t wait to compete in races, while Tiarne Rusten is a very important part of the team. Tiarne, who’ll shortly start a nursing course is one of those people who notices the little nicks and cuts that horses can come up with overnight. She misses nothing and gets on top of problems straight away. The fact that Bevan, Cooper and Tiarne are all excellent work drivers is another bonus.”
Brad has nothing but praise for the contribution of his mother Nicolle, and Darren endorses his remarks. “She’s as reliable as clockwork and you can set your watch by her,” says her only son. “She prepares all the feeds and is fanatical about clean water buckets. She also drives the jogging car for as many trips as necessary. “We don’t worry too much about breakfast until the last horse is worked, by which time the hunger pangs are setting in. Mum charges into the house and in a very short time we’re all tucking into a hearty meal. She’s worth at least two fast class horses.”
What a day at the office for the third generation harness horseman - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.
Not surprisingly Brad’s elder sister Melanie has also inherited the family trotting genes. Mel has a full time job in Maitland but finds the time to train a handful of horses before and after work, sometimes with a little help from her younger brother. Mel’s ability as a trainer is best reflected in her twenty one wins and twenty nine placings with the consistent Ashark who’s still racing competitively. Mel has won nine races with Man from Braavos, a horse she acquired from the Luke McCarthy operation. She’s currently very upbeat about Ashark’s younger half brother Love Lou who’s won four races from just seven starts.
Brad says there isn’t a horse on the property capable of emulating the deeds of Bright Energy or Shannonsablast, but it’s a case of trying to find the right race for those horses who have a semblance of ability. “We just treat them all like the best horse in the place and keep them happy, healthy and fit,” he said. “If they need to go to Tamworth that’s where they go. The slightly better ones concentrate on Newcastle, and every now and again we head off to Menangle if a horse is showing the necessary improvement.”
Seven wins in two days is an undeniable barometer of Brad Elder’s emergence as one of the best young horsemen in NSW harness racing. He made an early commitment to follow in the footsteps of previous generations and hasn’t wavered from that course. He’s been fortunate to have had great tutors in Brian and Darren and hasn’t wasted a single word of their wise counsel. All the advice in the world would have been worthless without natural talent, and Elder the younger isn’t short on that commodity.
Darren Elder drove Baker Creek into third place at Tamworth. Nowadays he leaves most of the driving to Brad - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.
(Banner image - Brad returns on Seamark, the second of his five Tamworth winners - courtesy PeterMac Photography Tamworth.)