Luke goes good with a big week

By Jordan Gerrans

Teenager reinsman Luke Thirgood was made to wait for his maiden success in the bike, but when it rained, it poured for the smiling youngster.

Still yet to have his 17^th birthday, Thirgood has been driving in races in the Sunshine State since September of last year.

He was nearing 30 career starts without victory until the middle of last week.

The enthusiastic young horseman quickly went ‘bang, bang’ to breakthrough.

He won his first race in the sulky around his home track of Redcliffe on Wednesday evening behind Stormtide for his mentor Greg Franklin.

The talented young sportsman quickly added his second triumph of his short career under lights at Albion Park on Friday evening with trotter Five Oclock Gerry.

After toiling away driving roughies since September of last year, veteran conditioner Franklin was glad to his young protégé receive some much-deserved reward for effort. 

“He's done well, he's very keen,” Franklin said. 

“He still comes every morning before school and he drove both horses exactly how they should have been driven. 

"It's taken him a while to find his feet in races, but he's getting there.

“I was very happy for him. To be fair, most of the horses that he has driven in races so far, they haven’t had much chance.

“The two horses that he did win on, even though they were both good odds, I gave them both good chances.”

Away from his harness racing pursuits, Thirgood is also a talented rugby union player as well as a track and field athlete.

“Luke is a graduate of the Queensland mini trotting ranks,” leading harness analyst Darren Clayton said.

“Both Luke’s winners are owned by the Thirgood family, with Luke a regular at Franklin’s stables helping the astute mentor with his small team.

“Luke is former Mini Miracle Mile Champion and is a Grade 11 student.”

The 73-year-old Franklin was pleased with both of Thirgood’s winning efforts last week but made special mention of the job he did behind Five Oclock Gerry over 2138 metres on Friday night at Albion Park. 

Starting as a $41 shot from the second line, Franklin believes Thirgood’s drive was perfect to score by a short half head. 

“He drove the trotter really, really well,” Franklin notes.

“He saved every inch of ground. I tried to explain to him that the fence is your friend unless you're driving a really good horse.

“The horses that he's going to be driving, if you can get to the fence, that's the best place to be.

“He stuck to the fence on Five Oclock Gerry as long as he could and drove him really well. If he hadn't have driven him like that, he wouldn't have won.

“He had a couple of opportunities to come out during the race, but he didn't take them because he would have got behind horses that wouldn't take him anywhere.

“He saved every inch of ground and got out at the right time. He had to be driven that way to win.”

The hard-working teenager was swamped by family and friends at Redcliffe and Albion Park after both winners last week.

The voice of harness racing in the Sunshine State Chris Barsby made special mention of Thirgood’s feats in his call on Friday evening.

“What a week for Luke Thirgood,” Barsby said after Five Oclock Gerry won. 

“He got his maiden victory earlier in the week and now Five Oclock Gerry salutes.”

Stormtide and Five Oclock Gerry are back at the races on Tuesday at Redcliffe with Thirgood set to partner them once again. 

On top of drives from his mentor Franklin, Thirgood has begun to pick up more bookings from other stables, including from Mark and Meaghan McNee as well as Donny Smith and Bryse McElhinney.