![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ryan-Sanderson10-267x400.jpg\")
Ironically, Sanderson will drive against Dangerous in the Smoken Up Sprint. His sister, Abby, will drive the family star.<\/p>\nTop young Victorian driver Ryan Sanderson has landed the most wanted drive in harness racing.<\/p>\n
The Murchison-based reinsman will partner TAB Eureka and Chariots Of Fire winner Bay Of Biscay for the first time in Saturday night\u2019s Smoken Up Sprint at Melton and the $250,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup a week later.<\/p>\n
He replaces another young gun, NSW-based Cam Hart, who is committed to champion stayer Swayzee in the Victoria Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is amazing,\u201d Sanderson said. \u201cThe opportunities I\u2019ve had this season are the stuff all drivers dream of when they\u2019re starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n
It continues a breakthrough season for the 22-year-old Sanderson, who already has 91 wins, is on target to smash his personal best of 108 wins in a season, and snared the drive on Fox Dan when second in the world\u2019s richest harness race, last month\u2019s $2.1mil TAB Eureka.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was Bay Of Biscay who beat Fox Dan in the Eureka.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust driving in the Eureka was a huge thrill, but to finish second puts it up with my biggest thrills in the game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s right there with winning a heat of the (2024) Inter Dominion on Dangerous, which was extra special given he\u2019s a family horse and trained by Dad (Shane).<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting a chance to drive in the Victoria Cup is up with anything. It\u2019s a race with such history and has been won by the best of the best. It\u2019s a race you grow up dreaming about being part of one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Sanderson is yet to drive Bay Of Biscay in a race, he did win a trial on the superstar four-year-old at Melton on June 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I was just warming the seat that day for Cam (Hart), but he\u2019s the best horse I\u2019ve driven, even if it was just a trial. He gave me the feel of what a star he is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get to drive him at the races now is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Sanderson is realistic about his winning chances on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be very hard, especially now we\u2019re drawn outside Leap To Fame. He\u2019s a champion, I\u2019m sure he\u2019s one of the best we\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just hoping for a good run this week and then to draw better than him the next week to give us a real chance to take it up to him in the Victoria Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Picking up the Bay Of Biscay drive continues the huge show of support for Sanderson from the powerhouse Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable in recent months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been a tremendous support,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of the horses I\u2019ve got to drive, including Fox Dan for them in the Eureka, has been so exciting. Now Bay Of Biscay is the best of the lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanderson has four other drives for the premier stable on Saturday, including all three Victoria Derby heats and nominal final favourite Let Her Roll ($2.10) in her qualifier of the Victoria Oaks.<\/p>\n
He is reunited with Fox Dan ($5) in a very strong opening Derby heat (race), takes the reins on Storms Collide ($4.40) in heat two and partners the exciting Cigano ($3.30) in the third heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top young Victorian driver Ryan Sanderson has landed the most wanted drive in harness racing. The Murchison-based reinsman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-187168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}