He's a Trainor by name, but Jack Trainor is knee-deep in driving at the moment - and he's loving it.
Trainor (21), a son of Dunedin harness racing identities Daryl and Anne, moved to Australia in late 2013 in search of a kick-start to his career.
And judging by his win in the New South Wales Rising Stars Championship last weekend, that might just have worked for Trainor, who started getting serious about harness racing when he worked for Canterbury trainer Cran Dalgety during the school holidays.
Trainor is sitting on 65 wins so far this season, with two months to go in the calendar.
That follows on from 30 wins in the 2013-14 season and - once you toss in his 17 wins in two seasons in New Zealand - he is well over the century mark in career salutes.
Trainor began his Australian experience with leading trainer Shane Tritton before moving to the southwest reaches of Sydney - Leppington to be precise - to team up with Kevin Pizzuto in September last year.
''Kevin was looking for a junior driver at the time so I approached him for the job,'' Trainor said.
''He was happy to take me on and everything is going really good here.
''Kev drives the odd one of his own, but pretty much 90 % of Kev's horses I drive, week in week out. He's got a bunch of really nice horses.''
One of those nice horses is Alta Jerome, who provided Trainor with one of his career highlights when he downed Smolda at Menangle in late May in the listed Bulli Cup.
The Rising Stars championship success joined Alta Jerome's win at the top of Trainor's list, and the camaraderie was another bonus.
''It was super - I met a really good bunch of people,'' he said.
''I only knew a couple of them personally before the start of the week and by the end of the week, we were really good friends.
''We went over the countryside from track to track and all stayed together.''
Trainor's three wins at Bathurst in the middle of the series gave him a comfortable lead, and a win at Newcastle on the penultimate night gave him a seven-point lead over Chris Geary going into the last heat at Menangle.
His fourth placing behind Popfromthebeach was enough to stave off Geary, who finished seventh with Mister Chow.
The win earns Trainor a trip to Western Australia later in the year, just adding weight to his decision to move across the Tasman Sea.
''I love it here - it's good because I'm getting a lot of support from trainers, but I love the Australian racing and I can't see myself coming home any time soon.''
Trainor also prefers the style of driving, particularly with many races over shorter distances forcing drivers' hands to take their spot out of the gate and stay there.
''Tactically, it's a lot easier to plan a race than in New Zealand with the big fields, and the leader changes 10 times and the parked horse changes 10 times,'' he said.
''Where you land here out of the gate, you stay until the 400m or 500m.
''You've got to notify your tactics over here, so you've got to drive your horse the same consistently week in, week out unless the stewards allow different. So you can pretty much go through your fields and work out where each horse is going to be.''
Trainor is happy to stick with the reins for now, rather than take on a training role.
''At the moment, I'm going to keep concentrating on driving while I've got such good opportunities but I wouldn't mind getting the odd horse of my own just to have at Kevin's - maybe a couple of New Zealand horses I would bring over myself.''
Plus, he can rely on plenty of feedback from his friends back in New Zealand, who keep him on his toes with their critiques of his drives.
''I still keep in good contact with everyone over there. They make sure they tell me when I drive a bad race, but I also hear from them when something good happens.''
When you drive 65 winners, the bank balance is looking a bit healthier too, compared with Trainer's earnings back home.
''I'm probably not a good example because I spend mine like it's going out of fashion,'' Trainor laughed.
''But when you're racing for $25,000 on a Saturday night in most races, financially now I would earn five times more than what I earned in New Zealand.
''Even with the way Australians have their programming for junior drivers, it's just an advantage to have their junior claim over here.
''I probably use my claim eight to 10 times a week.''
For example, a c2 horse can drop down to the c1 grade, and a mare, who automatically drops back one grade upon nomination for a meeting, can drop a further grade with a junior driver's concession claim.
''You can be a c4 mare racing as a c2 in a c1-c2 mares race. It just gives them another life over here.''
