Better late than never, right?
Hamilton horseman Chris Walsh has been driving in races for almost a decade without a win, but it was lucky start 118 on Monday afternoon.
Walsh teamed up with eight-year-old Crime Boss – a horse he recently purchased and who is trained by his grandfather Jim Barker – to take out the David O Jones Mitre 10 Pace at Stawell.
The bold front-running victory was Walsh’s first in the sulky, with the 7.8m success returning a whopping $112.40 on SuperTAB.
“Amazing. Absolutely amazing,” the 36-year-old told thetrots.com.au.
“You drive horses at home and you get off and know they are going well. And then they go to the races, like Dancin With Elvis did at Boort (on Sunday), and (cousin) Jackie (Barker) drives him. And you knew that horse would go well. Even though you are not driving the horse, you get that feeling.
“But then you jump on yourself and you actually finally get that win… it was just phenomenal.”
While Walsh is unfamiliar with winning races as a driver, he’s been in harness racing basically all his life and is a well-known face around Victorian tracks. He spends much of his time working with the Barker team in Hamilton and combines his passion for the trots with a part-time job at a bottle shop in town.
“A lot of people came up after the race, came up to the stables, and shook my hand,” Walsh said.
“Jason Lee went out of his way to come up and congratulate me and Michael Bellman.
“I get more enjoyment out of Jackie winning.
“We get a lot of horses that people can’t get pacing and that sort of stuff, so to get them to the races is a thrill for me.
“Because I don’t drive in many races, (the winning drought) sort of doesn’t faze me.
“It’s like the forward pocket when the full forward is clunking everything.”
Walsh started driving in the 2012-13 season and had managed just eight placings before Monday’s shock success.
The result was the eighth career win for Crime Boss at start 81 and first for Walsh, who bought the gelding late last year as a horse he could help prepare at home and then drive in races.
While Walsh had plenty of tries before scoring a maiden win, there’s been many that have had more.
Results going back pre-2000 can be a little unreliable, but data shows that Tasmania’s Wayne Rainbird holds the modern day record of most starts before landing a first winner. He scored a breakthrough triumph with Hes No Saint in 2012 at his 286th race drive.
In Victoria, Ken Browne recently broke a mammoth drought when he scored a long-awaited victory at start 173 aboard Chrisken Kiosk.
