Graeme Whittle after winning the Bendigo veteran drivers' race on Saturday night.
Graeme Whittle took out the Bendigo Veteran Drivers Trot on Saturday night in front of a strong crowd at Lord’s Raceway.
The club was celebrating 60 years of harness racing at the venue and put on a special night, which included inviting 12 veteran drivers to contest a mobile start trot.
Whittle walked away victorious after piloting 10-year-old mare Nandy Noot to victory at $72.90 on the tote, the 71-year-old reinsman chuffed with the success.
“I got a trophy and a voucher – I’ll head off to First Choice liquor I think to buy some liquor with that (voucher),” he quipped.
Whittle’s extensive history in the sport dates back about 50 years and contains numerous successes at the Showgrounds.
He still trains a small team of horses and in recent times has been among the action with trotter Coimadai Lodge.
Coimadai Lodge (Whittle and wife Carol live in Coimadai, near Bacchus Marsh) has only one once in 39 starts but has run good races in Breeders Crown heats and a Victoria Derby Consolation.
“He’s an honest trotter,” said Whittle.
Asked what he missed about trotting from the Showgrounds days Whittle replied: “The amount of winners I got!”
“I had a couple of really nice free-for-allers back in the day, cup class horses who raced in heats of the Inter Dominion and those sort of races.”
Whittle mentioned Tweedsmuir and Joueur as two horses he had plenty of success with.
The horse he drove to victory on Saturday night, Nandy Noot, was trained by Luke Bryant.
“Gee he had him fit,” Whittle said. “He was hardly blowing after the race. He’s a pretty good trainer.”
Whittle snared a trophy for his success in the race and said it was great to catch up with some old mates.
“My wife took me down under the grandstand to catch up with everyone before the race and there were some great memories talked about,” he said.
“It was good to catch up with some of the old boys. We chewed the fat a bit.”
