We have much to be proud of in Australia with the massively important and influential role females play in harness racing.
From the most important of trailblazers in Kerryn Manning, onto the likes of Jodi Quinlan, Natalie Rasmussen, Kate Gath and now what seems almost as many young women taking the reins as there are young guys.
For all the chest-beating in thoroughbred racing about the (much more recent) success of female jockeys, the refreshing quality was there long before in harness racing.
And, as we count down to the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1mil TAB Eureka, at Menangle on Saturday, the champion trainer Emma Stewart will headline a huge female influence.
Cross the world to the US and it’s a very different story. An archaic one in many ways, where female drivers are at best a novelty, or even frowned upon.
That’s not an exaggeration.
Go back to 2017 when Hannan Miller, daughter of top US trainer Erv Miller, came across to Perth when her brother, Marcus, was competing in a driver series.
Hannah loved driving and was damn good at it, but when asked whether she would go beyond driving and an “amateur” and pursue it as a career, she looked almost quizzically and said no.
The clear suggestion was that it wasn’t the done thing for females to drive in “proper” races in the US.
How sad.
Fast-forward eight years and a daring and driven Aussie, Lauren Tritton, has become a trailblazer in her own right.
Just five years after she and husband, Shane, left Menangle and relocated to upstate New York, Tritton created history at one of the most famous harness racing tracks, not just in the US, but the world.
Tritton, now 31 and a mother or two, became the first female to drive three winners at The Meadowlands on August 23.
“Back home, I just drove,” Tritton told The Big M’s Dave Little. “I came over here with the mindset that I was going to hang the boots up and focus on training. With two kids (Levi, 8, and Emily, 4), I made a deal that I would be more present for them, that I would pack that career away and focus more on training and I was happy to do that.”
These days she just dabbles in driving and despite the big treble, Tritton said it would lead to chasing more drives.
“No. And there’s no convincing me otherwise,” she told Little. “I have devoted myself to my family and my business. I just feel like I’ve already done the things I wanted to do as a driver.”
Not just as a driver, but a trailblazer and inspiration for other females.
Proud husband, Shane, hastened to add The Meadowlands treble was just the latest impactful moment from Lauren in the US.
“She was the first female to compete in the Battle of Lake Erie and she won it (with Lochinvar Art),” he said.
“The first female to compete in the biggest 3YO race in the US, the Meadowlands Pace, with Its Mario Me, the first to compete in the Grand Circuit MGM Borgata final at Yonkers and the first female to win four races on the same card at Tioga Raceway
“Lauren’s also won the open class pacing race at the prestigious VDM meeting in Wales on Rhyds Dude this year and she won the International Lady Drivers’ race at The Meadowlands on Harry Knows.
“To say I’m proud of Lauren is an understatement, not because of her achievements in the race bike (sulky) because her ability as a driver has been a cornerstone of our success for years now, but I’m most proud of how she’s stood up for females in this sport in the US.
“We could not have imagined how much of a male dominated sport harness racing is in the US, so for me, Lauren has nothing left to prove to anyone as a professional driver.
“What she is doing is proving to this side of the world that the ladies can do it every bit as well as the men, which for many young girls is so important to start the spark, allow them to dream and show what’s possible. It’s Lauren legacy.
“The only thing Lauren is pushing for is for one day someone gives her or any girl a compliment on a driver where the last line doesn’t say ‘for a girl.’ Until that day comes, she will keep doing what she does best, driving winners.”
Well said, Shane.
And take a bow, Lauren.
PHOTOS: Lisa Photo/Meadowlands
