When the Wairio Trotting Club holds the annual Ladies One Mile Day at Central Southland Raceway in Winton on Saturday (April 17), driver Ellie Barron will be the star of the show.

The club will be acknowledging Barron for her contribution to the sport of harness racing.

She was scheduled to be honoured last year but Covid-19 pandemic restrictions meant that with no crowds permitted on the course, the club could not do so.

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Ellie is a personality who has made a tremendous impact on the sport in a very short time. 

There was never any doubt Ellie would become involved in the sport with her father Clark driving and training and mother Jackie very involved in the operation as well. 

She initially became involved in the equestrian world by helping clean horse boxes at home on weekends. 

“Then I started helping gearing up and the like and started working towards my Junior Licence. I graduated from school in 2012 and spent the next four years at uni fulltime and I would come home and drive in workouts and trials,” says Ellie. 

“I enjoyed it and I wasn’t terrible at it so I went part-time for 6 months driving and working as a physio, but it was just too hard to do both. 

Ellie won the NZ Cadet of the Year Award in 2018 and the Southland Junior Driver Premiership in 2019.

Another highlight was getting the call up to New Zealand Junior Championships in 2019. 

“I have a lot of people to thank for giving me drives including Dad,” she said.

As well as success on the track Ellie is a Team Teal Ambassador and has been a huge force in the fundraising effort in the south. 

The proceeds go to the Women’s Cancer Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research.

Ellie also came into the spotlight at Omakau early last year when Ricky May suffered a medical event in the sulky during the running of the Central Otago Cup. 

Ellie was one of the first on the scene and her efforts are credited with ensuring a successful outcome for May.

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Each race on the programme will be a fast-paced, one mile contest.

The first race is scheduled for 12 noon and admission will be free.

Feature races include the Ladyship Stakes Final, a Free-For-All Mobile Pace plus the first of four heats of a new Southern Fillies & Mares Series, which will culminate in a final.  

The club will run its very popular Prizes In Purses competition throughout the day. 

Ladies can drop their losing tote tickets with their name and contact number into a bucket on course, from which draws are made throughout the day. 

The winning lady on each occasion then comes to the birdcage, chooses a handbag and receives the prize that the bag contains. 

Participants must be aged over 18 to enter.