During yesterday's card of racing at New Jersey's Freehold Raceway, 23-year-old horseman Andrew Harris recorded his first U.S. driving win in just his third attempt, piloting juvenile Western Hanover filly Lady Luck to a strong victory in 2:00.1.
"Trainer Steve Elliott's main man Alec put me down to drive after I had qualified her a couple of times," Harris told Trot Insider this afternoon.
"My first two [U.S. pari-mutuel] drives had come at the Meadowlands, but I was confident with Lady Luck yesterday. She was on her manners in her qualifiers, but she got a little hot yesterday. She grabbed a good hold of the bit and really wanted to go.
"I was forced to move her a little earlier than I wanted to, but she was still really good in there. It feels really good when you get some power to drive."
Harris has been down in New Jersey for five months now acting as Casie Coleman's top assistant trainer at the satellite location.
"The guy that was supposed to come down and run things here was on his way down with Moving Pictures, but the mare didn't end up coming down and therefore neither did he," Harris explained.
"Casie gave me an opportunity to head things up down her and I jumped at the chance. I've been here ever since."
Harris told Trot Insider that in terms of driving, he is trying to break in at Freehold. "It's good down here right now," said Harris. "It is a little boring right now that the Meadowlands isn't racing, but things are going well."
Click here to view Freehold's charted lines for Wednesday.