Two new names will appear in form guides across the country for Oamaru's harness meeting on Sunday.
Charlotte Purvis, of Oamaru, and Mikayla Lewis, of Temuka, will have their first drives on the seven-race programme.
When Purvis steps on to the track with trotter Pyramid Monarch it may be unfamiliar territory, given it is her first race-day appearance, but she will hardly be in unfamiliar company.
Purvis will have her brother, Matt, driving Playboy's Brother, and her partner, Matthew Williamson, driving Stylish Duke to compete against.
It was through both of them, as well as other strong family connections to harness racing, that the 23-year-old has found herself at the beginning of a budding career in harness racing.
''I have always been an equestrian girl and my brother has always been on the harness racing side.
''My grandfather was a stipe - Les Purvis - and my parents have always owned horses.
''But it wasn't until I met Matty [Matthew Williamson] that I got my foot in the door and got addicted.''
After meeting Williamson 18 months ago, Purvis quit her previous career as a beauty and massage therapist in Christchurch to move to Oamaru and take up a full-time position working in Phil Williamson's stable.
Although that may sound like a big change of scenery, it was not as riding horses was a big part of her life outside work in Christchurch, she said.
Eight months into her work with the stable, Purvis took to the trials track where she has racked up several wins and successfully gained her junior driver's licence.
That work has culminated in the drive behind Pyramid Monarch, a horse Purvis knows well from her work in the Williamson stable.
''I am lucky that the owners have said yes, that they are willing to put me on.''
Purvis' second race-day drive comes immediately after her first when she drives the Donna Williamson-trained Belmont in Sunday's junior drivers' event.
In the same race, Temuka 17-year-old Mikayla Lewis will also make her race-day debut in the sulky behind Nerve Of Steel, also from the Donna Williamson stable.
Like Purvis, Lewis moved from Christchurch to pursue a harness racing career.
She worked part-time for trainer Brent White and, after finishing her schooling at Christchurch Girls High School, she followed the trainer when he moved to Temuka.
The move and her full-time role at White's stable is something Lewis is enjoying.
''I am really. It's really fun actually. I can't wait to start driving,'' she said.
Lewis has gained a decent amount of trials experience and said having the opportunity to drive quality horses from White's stable had been a big help to her career.
The reinswoman's main mission after getting her career under way is to gain as many drives as she can this season.
Official figures from Harness Racing New Zealand show that last season's total stakes paid out topped $30 million for the first time in seven seasons.
A total of $30,312,244 was distributed in the 2016-17 season which concluded last Sunday.
This was the highest gross total since $32,545,460 was paid out in 2009-10, a season when the entire racing industry benefited from then Racing Minister Winston Peters allocating $9million to elite stakes across all three codes.
Monkey King won a $1 million New Zealand Cup that season and it has not been run at that level since.
The average stake per race was up $886 in 2016-17,al though this was offset somewhat by the reduction in the number of races by 108 to 2513.
