16 May 2016
DRIVER Wes Komorowski has been involved in harness racing for more than a decade and celebrated the biggest win of his career at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday night when Popfromthebeach won the Joe and Michael Ilsley Free For All.
The 37-year old doesn’t have a family link to the sport and has spent time learning from some respected industry participants. Komorowski has learned from Dennis Wilson, Liz and John Heath and Shane Tritton during his time in the sport and is currently doing some driving for the John Wheeler stable.
“It has been a bit difficult for someone who doesn’t have a family in the industry, it’s hard to learn and it’s also hard to get the opportunities,” Komorowski said.
“So I decided to try and learn from as many people as I could, I’ve taken little bits and pieces from all the people and taken their advice along the way. I’ve got my horses with John Wheeler now and I think I’ve got to the stage where I can hold my own with everyone.”
Popfromthebeach came with a well timed run to score and defeated Miracle Mile runners Bling It On, Monifieth and Blazin N Cullen in the process.
“The first half of the race was run in 55 seconds and it set the race right up for Pop, he got out at the right time and ran straight past them.
“I thought I was going to be in the race coming to the turn and I was just trying to hold Pop up for as long as I could. I had Todd McCarthy behind me and I knew the pace was going to suit his horse (Blazin N Cullen) so when he came out, I came out and he sprinted very quickly over the first 100 metres and that was the best part of his race.”
Komorowski has driven Popfromthebeach four times in the gelding’s last seven starts with the initial opportunity coming as a result of the success he was having driving other horses trained by Wheeler.
“I brought a horse down for John to train called Lumos and the horse has been doing a very good job for us. I’ve been getting a bit of luck on Lumos and John said to me you might as well have a go on Pop.
“In the last couple of starts he has just been a bit unlucky because he has been racing in small fields and they’ve gone along pretty slowly. He should of been winning those races but the races just haven’t been run to suit.”
With a busy work schedule, Komorowski is happy to enjoy driving rather than training at this stage of his career.
“I get more of a thrill out of driving, the training side of things is very difficult because I do have another job so spending the time with the horses to train them properly is something that I don’t have.
“I’m happy with the way everything is going at the moment. John (Wheeler) was absolutely ecstatic with the win, he does a very good job with his horses and his family were excited too because the horse is named after his father.”
Komorowski has now driven in 395 races for 38 wins and 72 placings.
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) is the controlling body for harness racing in New South Wales with responsibility for commercial and regulatory management of the industry including 31 racing clubs across the State. HRNSW is headed by an industry-appointed Board of Directors and is independent of Government.
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