No pressure for Diamonds and Pearls UDC team in race for good cause

By Jordan Gerrans

The Diamonds and Pearls team will be bringing blitz and glamour to the second edition of the Ultimate Driver Championship this week, but they will also be racing for a much deeper meaning.

The Diamonds and Pearls group are newcomers to the UDC concept for 2026 and are headed by harness racing identity Sharon Mitchell.

Mitchell, a long-time owner, breeder and administrator in the sport, quickly engaged close friend and Group 1-winning reinswoman Trista Dixon to be her team’s driver.

The Diamonds and Pearls slot is an all-female team and Trista Dixon will be the only driver competing in the second edition of the UDC from the fairer sex.

If Trista is able to claim the prize and become the Ultimate Driver in 2026, the Diamonds and Pearls team are set to donate a slice of the winning stakes to the Leukaemia Foundation.

Leukaemia is a cancer that has touched both the Dixon and Mitchell clans in recent years.

Mitchell’s husband Greg is the Chairman at Albion Park and their son Jack was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January of last year.

“He was 27 at the time and was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma while his wife Monica was eight weeks pregnant with their first child,” Mitchell said.

“Jack is now in remission and he has a beautiful son, Sam. 

“Trista’s husband Grant is also a leukaemia survivor, having been diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in 2012.  He too, is cancer free and continues to live a healthy happy life. 

“They both received valuable support from the Leukaemia Foundation during their treatments.

“The Leukaemia Foundation is very special to both the Mitchell and Dixon families.”

The Diamonds and Pearls team will donate 10% of any winning prizemoney claimed at the UDC to the Leukaemia Foundation. 

The female-led Diamonds and Pearls slot is aiming to bring a touch of colour and fun to Albion Park across Friday and Saturday evenings.

“We've got about a dozen women in our syndicate, there is my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter,” Mitchell said.

“There are also lots of my friends who are businesspeople in their own right.

“They are people that really enjoyed their time at the Inter Dominion last year and wanted to be involved.

“So, I've got them all involved this year and we're really looking forward to it. We watched on last year and saw it's a really big party weekend.

“We just decided last year with the success of it and the fun everybody seemed to be having that we'd try and put in a nomination for our own slot this year.

“We were successful, so we're really looking forward to it.

“We've been buying lots of shirts and merch to put a bit of glamour into the racing side of it and it's very exciting. 

“I'm looking forward to seeing all our supporters in their merch on Saturday night and getting behind Trista.”

The Mitchell family have bred and owned pacers and trotters in the Sunshine State for several decades with Grant and Trista Dixon usually doing the training and driving.

It was never a question around who Mitchell was going set to select to pilot her UDC slot.

“Our female drivers are as good as our male drivers,” Mitchell declared.

“Trista has really good knowledge about Albion Park and the track. She's a Group 1-winner so she knows the track really well.

“She knows the fields really well. She knows the track as well as anyone. Her number speaks for themselves. 

“She knows the horses. I wouldn't have had anyone else. So, it makes sense for us to have a good driver.

“We're not here to play. We're here to win and so it made perfect sense to us to have Trista.”

Champion driver Kate Gath flew the flag for the ladies in the first UDC edition last year and the 37-year-old Dixon is looking forward to doing the same this week.

“It's really important,” she said around female representation in the UDC.

“But, female jockeys, trainers and drivers now days aren't that rare.

“Women do quite a good job with the horses and I think the horses sort of think that we're just a little bit softer. 

“There are some horses who go good for the girls. They do like that soft touch from the girls and we're a bit gentler with them, I find.

“There has been a lot of female jockeys and female drivers that have a lot of success now So, it's just good to be out there and to represent the women.”

As Dixon regularly drives at Albion Park, she believes it may be a benefit across the UDC.

“I'll have a bit of an advantage, but I think nearly every driver, bar maybe one, has driven at Albion,” she said.

“But, it will be good to just be out there and obviously it's a bit easier being at home and on our own track.”

Dixon will be joined by fellow local drivers Pete McMullen and Angus Garrard, who is the reigning champion of the series, in the second edition of the series.

The first edition of the UDC earlier was a popular inclusion on the harness racing calendar with local driver Garrard walking away with the chocolates as the champion of the inaugural series.

The second UDC will be run across Friday and Saturday evenings at Albion Park.