John Morrison Harness Driver. Photo suppliedHe’ll admit to taking a cautious glance at it every now and then, but don’t think you can lead John Morrison into a debate about his chances of winning the junior drivers’ premiership this season just yet.

The in-form young horseman now sits level with Sheree Tomlinson with 36 wins for the season at the top of said premiership but with five months of racing still to come, he’s not getting too far ahead of himself preferring to take things week by week.

And this weekend, he’s even allowing himself a bit of time off.

Instead of trekking down south, like he has for almost every meeting this season, Morrison has instead decided to stay on the West Coast for the weekend.

“I’ve got a couple of my own in over there,” he said.

“If I had a really good book of drives, I would have done it (gone to Invercargill too), but I was looking at maybe just the one or two so I decided I’d stay on the Coast and have a bit of a break.”

But while he’s taking a break this weekend, don’t expect it to happen too often for the rest of the season.

Especially now the lure of travelling to meetings in Southland has been made that much more appealing.

Announcements last week by both Air New Zealand and then Jetstar have seen costs for drivers heading down South for meetings cut by almost 50 per cent.

“You’d be looking at about $400 return normally, but it’s considerably less than that now by the looks of it.

“That makes it great for heading down there because there’s not as much pressure to get a win or two to make it worthwhile.”

Morrison’s weekend will still be busy enough though without heading to the deep south.

He’s at Forbury on Thursday night with a big book of drives before heading back to Christchurch and then packing up for the Coast on Friday morning.

While not exuding confidence, Morrison is quite hopeful of a forward showing for his two chances at Patterson Park, Kiwi Bloke and No Fears.

“They’re both good enough to be a chance in their races, but they might need that ounce of luck.

“I’ve been really happy with Kiwi Bloke’s last two runs; he just needs things to fall into place and No Fears, well we know he’s got the ability he just needs to do it right.”

As well as his own two runners Morrison will also have high hopes for his drive in Friday’s feature, the Margo Nyhan and Peter Davis Kawatiri Cup, Di Caprio.

The Brian O’Meara-trained runner was a last start winner of the Hororata Cup and looks a prime chance to make it three wins in a row.

“Brian wouldn’t be taking him all the way over there for nothing and he’s got to be a good chance.

“But I think he’s going to be even better next year; he’s pretty exciting.”

© The Ashburton Guardian - 7 March 2019