For a large percentage of racing buffs, riding Winx across the line in a Group One event would be the stuff of dreams ― but for a girl from Girgarre, this is reality.
Ajay Baker, 13, drove Winx, not the four-time Australian Horse of the Year, but rather her pony namesake, to the Victorian Pony Trots Cup at Melton last month.
That’s not all.
Beforehand, Baker sat in the seat of Pretty Cool during the prelude race, passing the post in first to set up an epic double she’d complete later that day on October 14.
To say she was stoked ― and shocked ― to drive two different ponies to victory in the space of a few hours would be an understatement.
“I was hoping I’d win, but I didn’t expect to,” Baker said.
“She (Winx) went really well; she actually missed the start because she reared, but then she got going really good. I was pretty shocked, but happy.
“It’s just a really big achievement for me and I’m so happy to have won it.”
After knocking out the prelude with Pretty Cool, Baker took the reins of Winx in a field of 12.
Her pony bucked in the beginning, but soon hit its stride, with Baker and her fluorescent pink get-up sailing to the front and holding her spot to win by a couple of lengths.
Plenty cheered her on with the trackside packed with attendees there for the main event, the Victoria Cup, and among them was Baker’s mum Sherree.
“We were pretty excited when she did win because that’s been a goal of hers for a while now in the pony trots,” Sherree said.
“That would be her first Group One win ― she’s won a few country cups, but this one was bigger than them.
“It was worth the trip.”
Baker first saddled up for pony trots in 2018, a “no-brainer“ according to Sherree.
That’s not to say it didn’t take some convincing.
With her family training and breeding horses for harness racing since she was born, Baker was drawn to the lifestyle on a fateful race day at Cobram and it was love at first sight for the then eight-year-old.
“How she got started, I was racing at Cobram and the pony trots were there that day,” Sherree said.
“She asked ‘can I do that’ and I said ‘I don’t know’, but then she got her way.
“She got involved in it through there and she’s been doing it ever since.”
For Baker, horses are in her blood and taking out the curtain raiser for a Group One race is as good as it gets.
Well, until she can drive in the real thing.
While her calendar remains packed with pony trots meetings, Baker is holding out for the day she can join the big leagues and, just maybe, drive a horse of Winx’s calibre.
The real Winx, that is.
“I am hoping to be a trainer-driver of the big horses one day, but until I’m old enough to do them, the pony trots are a really good step up.”