Gardiner, along with his mate and fellow Lions player Lewis Taylor, had an early introduction to harness racing when their horse, Code Bailey, entered Group 2 for the trainer-driver combination of Marg and Jason Lee.
He set a track record as he beat a hot field by 12.9 meters in a stunning display of speed and power.
“That would be at the top,” Gardiner said of his excitement in racing across both harness and thoroughbred codes. “Everyone was there, he was one of our first harness horses and the way he did that was quite special.
“When that happens, you start to think ahead a little bit and get quite excited about what could happen.”
Turn the clock forward six years and Gardiner is excited to see the Code Bailey line-up in the 2026 version of the Bendigo Pacing Cup, which now provides the launchpad for a revived six-week Summer of Glory carnival.
While the 11-year-old is seen as a chance to extend his stunning career record of 20 wins from 63 starts, Gardiner may be celebrating half an hour earlier when another of his horses, the star-trotting mare Jilliby Ballerini, enters the Bendigo Trotters Cup as a cheap favourite.
“She showed promising signs in the beginning, but I certainly didn’t think at the time that she would get to this point,” he said.
“Usually they get it quite early on, but she’s just grown and developed over the last few years and it’s quite impressive to see what she’s doing now.”
Jilliby Ballerini holds the title of one of Australia’s top trotters behind her megastar stablemate Keayang Zahara, with 12 wins from 27 starts and earnings of more than $200,000.
Now back in Brisbane after a stint in native Victoria over the holiday period, Gardiner hopes to be in Melton on February 14 where his two stars will focus on the evening’s big events, the AG Hunter Cup and Great Southern Star.
Through Tim O’Connor, for HRV
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