1 December 2017
By MICHAEL COURT
NO-ONE has been in more demand around our country harness tracks in recent months than up and coming young driver Ellen Rixon.
At least five trainers have been on the phone offering her lucrative drives at Newcastle today and the popular young reinswoman will again take to the road with high hopes.
And with her last drive in Race Eight at 11.02pm, Ellen might be hoping to catch a few winks on the way home and let Mum Cindy do the driving as she will head for Albury on Saturday for another five drives as she winds up her sponsorship with the NSW Owners Association, which has seen her represent them with distinction on a plethora of country tracks around NSW in the past few months.
For the moment, though, Newcastle is top of the hit list and Rixon is confident she can go close with a few of her drives.
She will drive Summerland Sam for Jason Cook in the first race and it is the first time she has driven the gelding since scoring on him in July at Newcastle.
“It must have been one of the luckiest wins I have ever scored,” Rixon joked.
“You should watch the video, it was a pretty good win.
“We will need some luck again if we are to win, but you never know.”
Rixon will then partner her old favourite Don Kee in Race Two for former Miracle Mile winning trainer Peter, who just happens to be her father.
“He’s pretty well-graded in that race, in my opinion, although he is going to need some luck from that draw as well,” she said.
“But he is still one of my best drives for the day so I do give him a good chance and that track should suit him.”
Rixon also partners At Em Ashley (Race Five) and Elsie Gem (Race Seven) for trainer Polly Downing and both are drawn to be prominent.
“I drove Elsie Gem last week and she ran a really nice race so has to be a chance while I haven’t driven At Em Ashley before,” she said.
“So fingers crossed she will go well today too.”
Rixon also drives Carolyn Kelly for Geoff Harding in Race Eight and will be hoping she can go one better than last week when the pair combined to finish second.
Darren Elder has also booked Rixon to drive Kenandi Illusion for him in Race Six and she admits she’ll need a decent dose of luck to figure there after the veteran gelding drew wide in gate seven over the 2030m journey at Newcastle.
“Thankfully people have been helping me out with getting to and from the track,” she said.
“There have been plenty of kilometres covered in recent weeks but it’s all worth it . . . especially when you land a few winners.”