Tomlinson's first sisters to compete in Junior Champs

By Dave Di Somma - Harness News Desk

Sheree Tomlinson says bragging rights won’t be an issue when she squares off against younger sister Kerryn in this weekend’s junior drivers championship at Addington.

“She knows where she stands… in the pecking order,” says Sheree cheekily.

It’s believed to be the first time two sisters have been involved in the same series. The championships will be contested between 12 drivers, six from the North and six from the South, over six races on Friday and Sunday.

“I’m not too nervous, more excited,” says Kerryn.

At 22 years old Sheree is by far the more experienced. She’s contested but not won this championship  before though she  was the Australasian Young Drivers champion in Queensland in 2018.

Kerryn (20) was there that time – “it was good fun”.

Sheree has driven 135 winners from 1808 starts, while Kerryn has 29 wins, including an emphatic victory with Robyns Playboy in the feature pace at Invercargill yesterday (Thursday).

This will be Kerryn’s first appearance in the South Island team that is captained by her sister.

 “It’s quite cool that both of us are there,” says Kerryn.

Among Sheree’s best drives for the weekend is Percy (R7, 2600m stand) tonight.

“He’s been good behind the mobile and hopefully he steps .. he is a big show.”    

And she’s hopeful about Motoring Magic in race 2.

“He has a handy draw to work with.”

The first time the pair will be in the same race is race 6 (1980m mobile trot)  tonight. Both are driving favoured runners, Sheree pairs up with The Player and Kerryn reins Aladdin Sane.

 Kerryn meanwhile fancies her chances on Sunday with the Ian Cameron-trained Bright Glow.

“She won well a few starts back though this is a step up in grade.”

They key to the championships, according to Sheree, is consistency, rather than just wins.

“You have to drive every horse to the best of its ability. You just have to get points.”

As for her biggest rivals  Sheree thinks Dylan Ferguson has “a good book of drives”  while the championships also feature the champions from the past two years, Sarah O’Reilly and Alicia Harrison.