Abbey Vidovich made her race day debut in October 2024 and just eight months later she made her metropolitan debut, and once again she didn’t have long to wait for that elusive first win.
Vidovich had her driver's licence upgraded last week and on her first drive at Gloucester Park she claimed the win on board the Bob Mellsop trained Blazing Reactor NZ, taking a comfortable victory in the incredibly trying conditions on the night.
“It felt so surreal, considering it being my first drive, bad weather, then to come out and win was crazy.
“I went in being tipped on a winner, believe it or not, not on the one I won on, but I went in just wanting to get around safe, if I could salute I would’ve been happy with that.” Vidovich said.
Vidovich, who doesn’t come from a horse or harness racing background found her love of the animal and the sport when she started working for Dean Miller when she was still in school, and after working for his educational stable, she had a six-month stint with Kim Prentice, who granted her the first opportunity to sit behind a horse in fast work, and her passion grew.
She has since gone on to drive 33 winners in her short career from just 32` starters, with stakes just shy of $300,000, and the future looks bright for the 19-year-old, with the wins continuing over the weekend, with Vidovich taking out the second race at Kellerberrin on board local horse Hot Cinder race four on board Soho Confidential and the last on the card with Hot Rod, fitting after the 19-year-old mentioned earlier in the day that it was her next aim.
“It’s all come as such a surprise and everything happened so quick.
“I’m happy that I’m getting the drives and the end result.
“I was happy at the start to just get around safe and build my confidence, and since then it’s just taken off.”
WA’s junior drivers are pacing away after another stellar week in the cart, with Tuesday night's meeting at Gloucester Park seeing five of the nine races taken out by junior drivers.
The success continued into Friday night's meeting, with Abbey Vidovich’s win on debut, followed by a city double by concession driver Toby Lynn on the night when he drove Candy Apple NZ to victory in race eight, and then Amaretto Angel in the following race.
Ashleigh Paikos
Image: Photography by Jodie Hallows