Mother and two daughters ride winners within 24 hours, a rare achievement

A rare double at Blenheim on Friday was part of an almost certainly unique harness racing treble in the space of 24 hours.

When Sheree Tomlinson won the Marlborough Cup Prelude on Misty Blue it was already a big family moment as the pacer was trained by her grandfather Ken Ford and Sheree’s mother Amanda Tomlinson.

Not forgetting Sheree’s fiancée Matt Cross, who shares ownership of Misty Blue, who rocked the punters at 30-1, forcing Cross to rush down from the commentary box for the presentation photo.

If that’s not enough family success to last one day, this gets even better.

Earlier in the meeting, Misty Blue’s stablemate Hope For Love won the opening race, this time with Amanda driving the pacer herself.

Now there have certainly been times in New Zealand harness racing where a mother and daughter have both ridden winners at the same meeting, the most obvious being Michelle Wallis and daughter Crystal Hackett.

But it wouldn’t have happened often and Sheree couldn’t remember a time when she and her mother had floated winners on the same card.

“As you know, we usually ride our own horses and Hope For Love is actually our galloping pacer at home who sometimes only goes to the races to fill the truck,” she laughs.

So while not unique, the mother-daughter double rider is certainly rare.

But wait, there’s more.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Sheree’s sister Kerryn Tomlinson recorded her first Group 3 win as she piloted Empire City to win the Pryde’s Easifeed Southern Lights Trot at Ascot Park for trainer Phil Williamson.

Now feel free to browse the history books over the next few days if you have nothing better to do than 1000-1 another time to find a mother and two daughters who rode winners in New Zealand within 24 hours of each other.

Or any other country on earth.

“It’s really cool. I thought I had to ride a winner because I was falling behind,” said a visibly proud Sheree.

Fathers and sons would have done similar things, even fathers and daughters, brothers and sisters would have collected three winners from the same family within 24 hours or even in the same meeting.

But very, very few female drivers have daughters who also drive at the same time, so the Tomlinson Girl Power treble may not be repeated for a long time, if ever.

It just goes to show that even one of the quieter big race weekends of the summer running can produce one of the most remarkable stories.

For full race results, click here

Through Michael Guerinfor Harness Racing New Zealand