📸: @Angeherlihy (Instagram)
Cambridge junior driver Alicia Harrison recorded her fifth win for the season when steering home Port Delight to win the Woodlands Stud Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1750m) at New Plymouth on Saturday, but it meant more to her than most.
Harrison has been sporting the Team Teal colours, an initiative aiming to raise funds and awareness for ovarian cancer, for the last month and she was pleased to get up for her first victory in the silks.
The Doug Gale-trained mare settled to the rear of the field for Harrison before she was asked to improve three-wide with cover at the 800m mark.
Port Delight loomed wide at the turn and was able to run home late to nab The Blue Beat at the line to win by a nose, with a further neck back to Hereslookingatyou in third.
“She went really well,” Harrison said. “She’s a lovely little horse, she got home really well and it was enough.”
Harrison, who is a North Island ambassador for Team Teal alongside fellow Cambridge horsewoman Nicky Chilcott, was pleased with the win and said it was a rewarding experience to help out a worthy cause.
“I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the ambassadors this year for the North Island,” she said.
“We are trying to raise $40,000. Any money we can raise for research for better diagnostic tests and treatment is really good.”
It wasn’t just Harrison who had a huge smile on her face after the victory, her sponsor Ange Herlihy from Arbonne was beaming back in Auckland.
“I already have a raceday sponsor, which is Barbara Holmes, but Ange Herlihy was quite keen to sponsor me as well and this gave her the opportunity to support a great cause,” Harrison said.
“She has got a pretty good business going there with Arbonne and it is good to have her support.
“We raised $420 for the win and I went around the crowd and got another couple of hundred dollars in donations.”
The campaign will run until March 15 and Harrison said she is looking forward to travelling south and meeting up with her fellow ambassadors at Motukarara on the final day.
While Harrison was happy to get her first win for Team Teal, she is hoping to add to that tally at her home track on Wednesday.
Harrison believes she has a few good chances at Cambridge Raceway’s mid-week meeting but said To Sir With Love will be her best chance of the day.
“I have got a couple of nice ones in at Cambridge on Wednesday, but my own horse, To Sir With Love, will probably be my best chance. She has had no luck so far.
“If she can lead or settle handy over the sprint (1700m) trip she will be pretty dangerous I would hope.
“She went massive two starts back, she actually won the race, she just got it taken off her in the room.
“She is a pretty smart horse, so I can see her picking up a few if everything goes to plan.” – Cambridge Raceway
