By Duane Ranger
Kumeu amateur driver, Cheree Wigg is on the verge of creating a bit of New Zealand amateur driving history.
The 45-year-old horsewoman is not far from winning the Summer Series and North Island Championship for the third consecutive year.
“I don’t think anyone has done that before and it was one of my goals at the start of the season to win them both.
“I’m inching closer to achieving that, and hopefully in the next two weeks it will be realised,” Wigg said.
Wigg is one of six drivers currently competing in the North Island Championships. She has already qualified for the New Zealand Championships later in the season.
The founder of New Zealand Amateur Driving, Steve Phillips said Wigg was competing against Phil Niall, Angela Temu, Jeff Darby, Logan Darby and her partner Mike Stevens in the North Island Championships.
“We have had two of the four heats and the third will be staged this Saturday (April 8) at Alexandra Park. Cheree won first heat from Jeff and Angela while Phil won the second heat from Cheree and Mike.
“The fourth and final heat will be run at the Alexandra Park Workouts the Saturday after Easter (April 22),” Phillips said.
He said the North Island Champion would be crowned at the ‘2017 North Island Amateur Driver-of-the-Year’ at the annual ‘North Island Harness Racing Awards’ ceremony.
“The New Zealand Champs are in May and will be tote races. The finalists for that Series qualify from a combination of summer series and tote races. To qualify all amateurs must hold an advanced amateur licence,” said Phillips.
“I would love to win this North Island Championship and then repeat the dose at the New Zealand Champs. Until then I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing. It will be my first time in the New Zealand Championships. I’ve qualified. Points are accumulated via race-day results and Summer Series points.
“I would love to win them both and then ultimately the World Championship one day,” Wigg said.
Wigg, who also has four training successes to her name, has two horses in work – one of which is the at present one is the eight-win Art Major 7-year-old gelding, Minstrel Boy, who is resuming after a spell.
Wigg drove two winners last season and has saluted the judge once in 2016-2017, that was when she trained and drove Elliott Daniel to win at Cambridge Raceway on February 5.
She has also placed six times from 14 starts this season. Last year she won two of her five drives and placed in one other.
Her UDR strike-rate this season is 0.2460 compared to her life-time UDR which is a very healthy 0.3041.
Her fiercest rivals are her twin sister Sheryl and her partner Stevens, who is about to embark on his amateur TAB career.
“I don’t care who I’m driving against. I just want to beat the lot of them,” said Wigg. Points after two of four heats of the North Island Amateur Championships are:
Cheree Wigg 16; Phil Niall 14; Jeff Darby 11; Angela Temu 11; Mike Stevens 9 and Logan Darby 7. Points are allocated 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, from first to sixth
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