A New Year’s Eve resolution to enjoy break-out success will be the vow for many of Sunday’s Garrard’s Horse and Hound Young Guns Series participants, including its youngest starter.
Ryan Backhouse, 18, burst on to the scene to book a place in the eight-race showdown, which will see 10 of Victoria’s best under 25 drivers compete to take out this inaugural title and set off the metaphorical fireworks before the Melton sky lights up for a midnight celebration.
Tasmanian born and now a Horsham local, Backhouse will compete in all eight series races, steering a wide range of horsepower including a two-year-old, a three-year-old, three trotters and three open age pacers.
“I am really looking forward to driving for Chris Svanosio and his trotter (Aldebaran Demi),” Backhouse said.
He is also eager to grab the reins of Vincent Grange for fellow Tasmanian-born horseman Alex Ashwood in race two, which kicks off the series at 6.17pm.
“I have known Albie (Ashwood) for a long time,” he said. “It will be good to drive for him and I get along well with him. I know how he likes his horse’s driven.
“Vincent Grange went good last start in a two-year-old race. I think (he) and Aldebaran Demi are my best two chances.”
Backhouse is excited to be part of this new and innovative series, which replicates the scoring rules from the Australasian Young Drivers Championship (detailed below).
“You don’t really see these races around very often with all the young drivers,” he said. “I am looking forward to it. (The) first few races will be pretty hot early, everyone will want the front. It will be good fun I reckon.”
Asked who he believed would be his toughest competition on Sunday night, Backhouse answered “Ryan Sanderson, he has a nice couple of drives there”.
He also expects Jordan Leedham will be the most likely to put the foot down in the races.
This is only Backhouse’s second season driving and his first full year in Victoria since moving to work for Aaron Dunn.
“I am originally from Tassie, it was a year ago (yesterday) I moved to Melbourne,” he said. “I was talking to Aaron at the Inter Dominion, he asked me if I was looking for a job and now I’m here.”
HOW DOES THE YOUNG GUNS SERIES SCORING WORK?
The 10 participants in the Garrard’s Horse and Hound Young Guns Series amass points across Sunday’s eight races at Melton, which run from race two (6.17pm) to race nine (10.10pm) on the 10-race card.
The points system echoes Harness Racing Australia’s structure for the Australasian Young Drivers Championship, where distribution fluctuates depending upon the number of starters in a race.
Five of the races – two, five, seven, eight and nine – have full fields and will be scored as follows: 1st - 17 points; 2nd - 12 points; 3rd - 9 points; 4th - 7 points; 5th - 6 points; 6th - 5 points, 7th - 4 points; 8th - 3 points; 9th - 2 points, 10th - 1 point.
Race three has seven starters and will be scored as follows: 1st - 14 points; 2nd - 9 points; 3rd - 6 points; 4th - 4 points; 5th - 3 points; 6th - 2 points; 7th - 1 point.
Race four has six starters and will be scored as follows:1st - 13 points; 2nd - 8 points; 3rd - 5 points; 4th - 3 points; 5th - 2 points; 6th - 1 point.
Race six has nine starters and will be scored as follows: 1st - 16 points; 2nd - 11 points; 3rd - 8 points; 4th - 6 points; 5th - 5 points; 6th - 4 points, 7th - 3 points; 8th - 2 points; 9th - 1 point.
The night will have a full wall-to-wall broadcast on TrotsVision as well as on-course celebrations.
TUNE IN at MELTON on Sunday
First Race: 5.39pm Last Race: 10.42pm
Racecaller: Luke Humphreys with TrotsVision's Ryan Phelan, Steve Cleave and Bronte Nieuwenburg.
TrotsVision: WATCH LIVE
SEN Track: LISTEN LIVE
RSN 927: LISTEN LIVE
