When American brother and sister Marcus and Hannah Miller get into the cart on Friday night (Dec. 8), they will become just the fourth brother-and-sister pair to drive at the same Gloucester Park meeting.
They will join Greg Kersley and his sisters Kellie, Kate, and Karen. It was some 11 years ago that Greg and Kate Kersley last drove at the same Gloucester Park meeting. Also in this unique group are Rick and Lisa Smith, who last drove at the same Gloucester Park meeting some 30 years ago.
The only brother-and-sister combination currently driving in Perth are Vance and Tonia Stampalia, and they in fact each won a race at the same Gloucester Park meeting on March 31, 2012. It was a midweek meeting; Tonia won with No Future, and Vance with Governor Art.
Greg and Kellie Kersley are the only other brother-and-sister combination to win at the same Gloucester Park meeting, and they achieved the feat in October of 1989, when Kellie won with Rite and Greg with Mystic Cove in another midweek meeting.
Kellie Kersley won a heat of the 1996 Perth Inter Dominion with champion mare Norms Daughter, becoming the first female driver of an Inter Dominion heat winner in Perth.
Kellie (95 Perth winners) and Kate (94) still head the list of most successful drivers in 107 years of racing in Perth, with current driver Lauren Jones in third place with 74 Perth winners. Jones will be driving in the Retravision Lady Drivers Challenge at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Hannah Miller will drive the Bernie James trained Parisian Partygirl in race three, the Retravision Invitation Ladies Drivers race, while her brother Marcus will be driving the Ross Olivieri-trained Wrappers Delight in the Sky Racing Drivers Series Heat 3, carded as race two. He will then drive again in the Slater Gartrell Drivers Series Heat 4 later in the program behind the Nathan Turvey-trained Ohoka Darcy.
(Australian Harness Racing)