Barron back and in the winner's circle

By Jonny Turner 

It wasn’t quite a case of straight off the plane and into the winner’s circle for Ellie Barron, but it was close.

Barron won her first race in the sulky since January of 2023 when Always On Sale ran to a strong front-running victory in the McLeay Jewellers and Engravers Mobile Pace at Ascot Park on Wednesday.

The win was a family affair with Always On Sale owned by Barron’s mother Jackie and trained by her father Clark.

The junior driver returned from her OE in London just two weeks ago, after she took time out of harness racing and returned to her profession, physiotherapy.

Barron admitted though she enjoyed her time away from the sport, harness racing was calling her home. 

“I have been really struggling watching Mum and Dad’s horses go well, and I didn’t want to miss another Cup Week or New Zealand summer so I made the call to come home.”

“This horse won at Ashburton so this race, came up being penalty-free.”

“I think I will give him the credit for today, he was in full charge.”

Barron took just two drives to return to winning form after her big break from driving.  

Though the reinswoman clearly hasn’t lost her winning touch, she won’t return to driving in a full-time capacity just yet. 

“I will see how I am going, I plan to just drive Mum and Dad’s penalty-free ones and see how it goes from there.”

“I am still working part-time as a physio, so I will just take it as it comes.”

While in London, Barron was forced to have a complete break from harness racing.

Watching replays of New Zealand harness races was as good as it got. 

“I was really far away from it, I was working as a physiotherapist in London and I did 10 months there.”

“You can’t even watch the horses live from there, I had to watch the replays as much as I could.”

“I came home and then did the Europe summer sort of thing, then I felt really ready to come home.”

In just her second drive back in action, Always On Sale gave Barron a few nervous moments when pacing roughly in the score up.

But once Barron got him settled, the pacer strode to the front and cleared out for a dominant win.

Clark Barron went on to produce a training double at Ascot Park on Wednesday with Raknruin scoring in the hands of Brent Barclay.