| Mark
Jones -
Harness
Driver |
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| October
2003 |
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| Qualification: |
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| National
Certificate in Equine |
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| "I
was sitting on my Dad's knee driving horses when I was
4 years old and drove
my first horse solo at age 7," said Mark. Starting
young has certainly been a trade mark of this talented
young harness driver. Mark lost his Junior driver license
at age 21, in only 4 years when it takes most until they
are 25 or a minimum of 7 years and was the youngest ever
winner of the open drivers premiership in his first year
out of juniors. |
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| Mark
Jones is a racing man through and through, he has always
been keen on racing and it is no wonder as he was born
into a successful harness racing family based in Templeton,
Christchurch. Both grandfathers, Derek Jones and Reg Stockdale
were/are very well respected successful trainers and drivers
having won many big races. Cousins Tim, Anthony and Roddy
Butt were/are leading drivers of their time and Tim has
become one of New Zealand's best trainers. Uncle Murray
Butt has been very successful as well. Father Peter is
regarded as one of the best drivers in NZ and has driven
the winners of most big races in Australasia. He has also
trained many major race winners. |
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| There
was never much of a chance for Mark Jones to even want
to consider anything else with harness racing firmly entrenched
in his blood and spending all his spare time helping his
father out at the stables in holidays and weekends. It
certainly is no surprise to read "Yes, It is always
something I wanted to do and I have always enjoyed driving
horses and the competition of racing. |
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| With
such a strong passion for harness racing Mark did not
want to concentrate on academia. After successfully completed
his school certificate, he completed the 3 year industry
cadet scheme as is expected, worked in a number of stables
to gain valuable experience before starting off as a Junior
Driver at age 17. The cadet scheme gives up and coming
drivers/trainer's a solid grounding in all aspects of
harness racing covering everything from hose fitting and
maintenance around the farm to racing, gear and horse
care etc. |
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| "My
first job was with Bob Negus who I worked for before school
each day starting at 6 and finishing by 8.30, but as we
got more busy I would get to high school later and ended
up getting there at lunchtime in the finish! I left school
at 16 and still worked for bob from 6 till 9." Bob
was wonderful to work for and treated me like family and
taught me so much, probably the best person I could have
started off working for and I learnt so much from him."
recalls Mark. |
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| He
then worked for Brian O'meara from 9.30am till 3pm, followed
by a couple of hours at the local butcher shop. He did
this for about 8 months until going full time with Brian
O'Meara, which he did for approximately 18 months. Mark
tells us "He was very different to work for than
anyone I had meet before and trained a different way to
what I had ever experienced. But by looking in from the
outside now I could take the good points out of his training
methods and disregard the ones that I was not so fussed
on." During his time working for Brian Mark was fortunate
to work with some great horses and got to drive Christian
Cullen and Spirit Of Zeus, and many other top horses at
the trials. |
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An
extremely enjoyable six month stint followed with
David Butt, who advised Mark to work for his current
employer Cran Dalgety where he has been working
for the last 6 years. Together they have built a
very good working relationship and are enjoying
a lot of success together. |
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| In
addition Mark has had a good deal of overseas experience
through looking after horses and driving in Australia
where he has driven winners and had some success in major
races. This also provided opportunities to gain considerable
experience by working for top Aussie trainers, Gavin Lang
and Brian Hancock. |
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| He
recently travelled to Canada where he worked with North
America's leading trainers Brett Pelling, Nifty Norman
and Kevin O'Reilly. During this time he drove throughout
Canada on 6 different tracks including Woodbine with some
success. A stint in Italy didn't reap any winners but
a fantastic unforgettable experience. |
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| Mark
Jones is a hard working, ambitious young man, who has
already achieved more in a relatively short career of
harness driving than many would in a lifetime. He has
many highlights but here are the ones he considers considers
as the really special ones: |
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| - |
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"Winning
the 2003 World Driving Championship in Canada would
be my biggest highlight, it was a great trip where
I met so many wonderful people, have made many friends,
and winning the series was great. |
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Winning
on Lyell Creek in his last North American start
which made the Canada/World Drivers Champs trip
so much more special. |
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Winning
the Australian junior drivers series in 1999 was
fantastic. |
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Winning
the open drivers premiership in 2000/2001, my first
year out of juniors and becoming the youngest ever. |
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The
New South Wales Oaks and the Nevele R Stud Series
on "Sparks a Flyin" was special as was
winning both the pacers and trotters final of the
Australian Breeders crown on the same night as the
media were bagging me a lot in Aussie so to do that
was best way to shut them up!" |
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