With the 2016 harness racing season winding down in his home province, Nova Scotia's current dash-leading driver Colin Kelly has relocated to Ontario.

The 23-year-old Cape Breton horseman, who started driving regularly in 2013, earned 46 wins in Nova Scotia this year before heading west. Kelly was the leading driver at Inverness Raceway, posting 36 victories there and an UDR average of .451 in just 111 drives. He also ranked third in the standings at Northside Downs with 13 wins.

"I just wanted to see how things go and get into the horse business full-time," Kelly told Trot Insider. "There wasn't a whole lot of work down home and it was coming down to the end of our season so I more or less just made the decision to come here [to Ontario] before everything was winding down. I found work here so I made the decision to move quite quickly with the idea of hopefully getting drives here eventually. At home, I just drove more than anything."

While his older brother David is enjoying a breakthrough year on the west coast, having cracked the top 10 standings at the Century Downs meet with 49 driving wins, Kelly opted to head to Ontario for the opportunities available to carve out his own harness racing career path there.

"There's only one track that really operates in Alberta so there's more opportunities in Ontario; there's a lot of smaller tracks to try and get started on here," said Kelly. "There's a lot more racing here as well so I thought it would be a better spot to start."

Kelly arrived in Ontario at the end of October and joined the team of Kyle Fellows, with aspirations to continue his driving career.

"It would be nice to try," said Kelly. "I'm going to try to pick up a horse of my own to get started on and hopefully get some luck and pick up some drives from somebody in the near future."

Kelly is posting solid numbers in just his fourth year of driving. From 808 starts, he has notched 167 wins and boasts an enviable 0.343 UDR.