Holly Chalmers graduates to the big league

By Jordan Gerrans

Up-and-coming reinswoman Holly Chalmers earned multiple feature titles in her days in the junior driving ranks and she is aiming to follow the same path after graduating to the next level. 

The 16-year-old made her official race driving debut at Redcliffe on Sunday night and was in action again at the same venue on Tuesday. 

Chalmers has long worked for the leading barn of Graham Dwyer’s at North Maclean and her boss has supported her with her maiden two drives at the races.

The enthusiastic Chalmers took home top honours on Inter Dominion night in 2023 with Velvet’s Little Star in the Mini Trotting ranks.

The following year she tasted glory at the Miracle Mile and Blacks A Fake.

Multiple Group 1-winning mentor Dwyer says his young protégé has an excellent work-ethic and believes she has what it takes to make her way as a driver in Queensland.

The Dwyer camp prepared five winners on Tuesday, with four at Redcliffe and one at Menangle.

While Chalmers was not in the bike on race day in the handful of winners, her boss credited her efforts behind the scenes towards having their runners in top condition for their assignments.

“Holly's a great helper around the farm here,” he said.

“She's obviously gone through the pony side of things and obviously she's just taking the next step now.

“She's just been a big help here, especially seeing as we had five winners on Tuesday.

“She's a big part of that. She finished school last year, so pretty much since then she's been coming and helping all along the way.”

Young Chalmers has worked through her trials in recent weeks and months before having her licence to drive officially approved.

She finished fifth in her maiden race day appearance on Sunday when she was in the bike behind the Dwyer-prepared Quik Change. 

Dwyer’s son Layne has also in recent years transitioned from the pony trotting ranks to competing against the senior drivers and that is where the connection with Chalmers began. 

“She is still learning and will make a mistake or two with her drives, we are just fine-tuning that because all young drivers go through that,” Dwyer said.

“But, horses run for her.

“That is one thing I have noticed, especially at home here and going through the trials, there's been a few that have gone quite well for her.

“The next step is just getting her racing mind down pat. That's the stage she's at now, just getting that right.

“She definitely has got all that in front of her and she's got that sort of attitude.

"Holly's the first one down here in the morning, she doesn't have to be asked to get out of bed. 

"She's really good and she looks after the horses really well at the races.

“She's always making sure the next thing's right and I couldn't be happier with her.”

Chalmers’ mother Ashleigh has also recently taken out her own training licence and is preparing a few former Dwyer-trained pacers.

Emerging driver Chalmers is enjoying the challenge of driving against the best in the state.

“It's pretty good,” she said.

"It's a lot different to the trials.

“There's a lot of opportunities for me at the Dwyer stable and it's pretty good here, it's good work.

“Driving in the feature races in the mini trots before this, it was a good experience.”

Chalmers was set to add to her two prior career drives at Redcliffe on Wednesday evening as she was booked to partner Tayla Gillespie’s Rock Nien.

Chalmers’ sisters Savannah and Skye also competed in mini trotting events alongside Holly.

Meanwhile, it was a red-letter day for the Dwyer camp on Tuesday as they prepared a career-high five winners.

They collected four victories at Redcliffe while at Menangle, Im Frankee won the opener on the program.

Experienced trainer Dwyer noted that he had prepared four Redcliffe winners on the same card earlier in his career, but he had never achieved a handful, including victories at multiple tracks.