There are 12 juniors in the North Island. Myself, Luke Whittaker, Fergus Schumacher, Dylan Ferguson, Nate Delany, Craig Smith, Taitlyn Hanara, Kim Blakemore, Kaleb Bublitz, Andrew Drake, Scott Iremonger & Sheridan Rapley (who is yet to have a drive).
I believe both Nate & Sheridan don't have drives in the race this week after 4 of the horses were withdrawn from nominations.
This would be the first time in over a year (or more) that any junior race received more nominations than there were drivers, at least this way this gives the kids starting out their careers the opportunity to have a drive, rather than them missing out & if a trainer really wants they can fly up someone from down south, Johnny Morrison had a drive a few weeks ago and i'm sure others are open to travel.
Agree that more needs to be done to get kids involved, but in an industry with limited opportunities, long hours & average earning opportunities, it is always going to be a struggle.
Also there has been numerous talk that the horsemen's association was trying to pass a rule that if the junior race was to not get off the ground that horses nominated for the race would still get a penalty free win if they were driven by a junior in a 'normal' race- I believe it was passed but couldn't confirm for sure. So the same thing should of really happened with the horses that were forced to change fields they still should of got in to those fields with a junior on under penalty free conditions. Maybe something that should be discussed with clubs more thoroughly?