24 October 2022 | Ashleigh Paikos
”From hand and heels, to hands and wheels!”
And what a magnificent call it was by Matt Young to capture McCallum’s first win at Bunbury on Friday, highlighting the change in codes for Campbell as he crossed the line in race two.
Campbell McCallum’s debut to driving was nothing short of a fairy tale, with the 32-year-old not only wining first up but scoring his first driving double on day one of what looks to be a promising new career.
McCallum is no stranger to horses, or success for that matter, with his career in the saddle ending in 2014 on board Central Park (NZ) in The Broome Cup, retiring on a high with the win in the $100,000 feature. It all began as a youngster in Queensland, where his fascination with racehorses led him to helping out at the stable of a family friend, his interest grew and eventually after receiving his first horse (a slow one at that), McCallum was hooked.
“I had no family, no one interested in horses, and I just fell in love with them when I was in around year four and I got to fill up their water buckets and tip their feeds in, and I started going to the races every weekend with them and the next thing they gave me a horse that was too slow to race, and I learnt to ride on that pretty much.”
Due to a lack of opportunities in Melbourne as an apprentice, he made the move to WA in 2009, and McCallum hasn’t looked back, firmly planting professional roots in WA as well as welcoming three children with his partner, Jolene. Lasting a further five years in the saddle here in the west, McCallum decided to hang up the reins in 2014 after going stale on race riding, accompanied by struggling to keep his weight down.
“I like food and beer too much” he joked
McCallum mentioned that he never thought he would be in the harness racing industry 12 months ago, but a year is a long time in racing, and with a friendship forming between McCallum and Edwards, it was a thoroughbred that originally brought the two together.
“Luke started messing around with a galloper and he asked for some help, and it went from there, and now we’ve merged the businesses together,”
“I started driving work and he put the idea in my head, and I went through the trials, and he helped me out heap.”
“It took me a little while to get my head around it, it’s much more tactical and just all the gear that the horses have to wear, but it’s really enjoyable.”
The wins kicked off in race two with the Luke Edwards trained Toni Street NZ leading from start to stop in race two, with the recent New Zealand Import also claiming her first win in the state on debut. Starting from barrier one over the 1609m sprint trip at Donaldson Park, the four-year-old was able to dictate terms, winning comfortably for the Edwards-McCallum duo in a winning mile rate of 1:58:5.
Leap Of Faith was an unexpected but very welcomed win for McCallum, with the six-year-old claiming top prize in the standing start over the 2503m journey. Overcoming the 50m handicap, she returned after a short freshen up, and after settling well back in the field, she was able to come home the better, claiming a narrow win in 2:05:0.
“I thought she was getting back to the ability that she has shown, but it was a bit trickier with me just having my second drive and it was a standing start, not knowing how I would get her away or things like that, but we thought if she was close enough at the top of the straight, she would go really well.”
McCallum is back in the cart on Tuesday night at Gloucester Park, where he drives Shehadi in race three at 5.25pm for Luke Edwards.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
