Queensland’s young dynamic driving duo, Brittany Graham and Trent Moffat will proudly fly the Australian flag when they experience racing in the United States over the next month. The inaugural winners of the Centenary Classic Mercedes Benz Young Achievers Award will spend one month with highly successful veteran expat Aussie trainer Ross Croghan in New Jersey.
Graham (19) and Moffat (22) will don the Aussie green and gold driving suits and boxing kangaroo green and gold helmets at every promotional opportunity whilst overseas on their educational trip.
Racing Queensland will publicly present the study gear, promotional colours and helmets to Graham and Moffat this Saturday at Albion Park.
Queensland’s young guns organizer Kevin Seymour said he has been busily organizing contacts overseas so the young drivers can experience as much US racing as they can during their month long stay.
“The racing authorities at the Meadowlands are helping us out where they can and I have been in touch with my contacts to ensure the kids get to experience as much as possible while they are there,” Seymour said.
Graham and Moffat will leave Brisbane on 28 June and fly to New York via Los Angeles. They will start the trek home on 24 July with a three day fun stopover in LA where they will visit Universal Hollywood Studios and Disneyland.
Croghan, the young drivers mentor in the US is originally from Luddenham, near Penrith in New South Wales. The US champion was born into harness racing, following in the footsteps of his father, the late Noel Croghan. His entry to the US began on the West Coast and Croghan racked up nine driving titles before he decamped for New Jersey in the 1990s. Since then, he has ranked among the top trainers in Meadowlands history with over 1,000 wins in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Croghan has four Big M training titles to his credit (1999, 2000, 2006, 2007) and holds the record for most starters in one season with 717 in 1999. He has a lengthy list of standouts to his credit, and his top trainees have included millionaire trotter Corleone Kosmos, Tug River Princess, Carolina Sunshine, Laughandbehappy, BJ’s Whirlwind, Mister Goal, Ultimate Falcon, Spendid Splinter and Artist Stena. Croghan also has a good record as a teacher of the trade and he has mentored some of the sport’s top training talents. His former assistants include Brett Pelling, the Meadowlands’ all-time leading money winner and Mark Harder.
By: David Aldred – RQ News 24 June 2015
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