Early risers will have the opportunity to watch some Meadowlands regulars at Brisbane’s Albion Park.

by Debbie Little

Prior to Sunday’s (Feb. 23) Dan Patch Awards Banquet in Orlando, FL, all eyes should be looking farther south and quite a bit west, at the inaugural Ladbrokes Ultimate Driver Challenge at Brisbane, Australia’s Albion Park.

The innovative two-night competition — which will be conducted on Friday (Feb. 21) and Saturday (Feb. 22) — is must-see-TV for Meadowlands fans, as drivers Dexter Dunn and Yannick Gingras will be competing, while Big M TV host Jessica Otten will be a roving reporter doing interviews with participating drivers.

According to Racing Queensland’s general manager of racing, David Brick, both race nights will be live streamed via the event website 
www.theultimatedriver.com.au.

With Brisbane 15 hours ahead of East Rutherford, NJ, the broadcast — Friday from approximately 2:30-7 a.m. (ET) and Saturday from approximately 2-6:30 a.m. (ET) — is aimed for early risers.

Night owls may be interested in checking out the event’s website on Wednesday (Feb. 19) when the drivers select their horses live between 11 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. (ET).

When news first spread about the Ladbrokes Ultimate Driver Challenge, many entities were interested in attaining one of the 10 coveted slots and Meadowlands top competitors Ron Burke / Weaver Bruscemi got lucky.

“It was hard to get a spot,” Mark Weaver said. “A lot of people tried and didn’t get one, but we were able to get a slot in this drivers’ competition, and when we got it, we selected Yannick.”

This will be Weaver’s second time visiting Australia as he got married there in 1999.

“My wife and I figured we’ve always wanted to go back, let’s just tie it around this,” Weaver said. “So, we’re going to go with her parents, who were actually there when we got married 26 years ago, and her brother and sister-in-law.”

Weaver mentioned that his partner, Mike Bruscemi, will not be making the trip Down Under.

“He and his wife, they’re not the best shippers,” Weaver said with a laugh. “I have trouble getting them down to Florida in the winter, so they will not be there.”

According to Gingras — competing for the slot held by ABR / Summit Bloodstock / Ron Burke / Weaver Bruscemi Syndicate — he, Burke, and Weaver thought it would be exciting to do this excursion together.

“The plan was all of us going Down Under together, but unfortunately [Ronnie] has too much going on, so he ended up not coming,” Gingras said. “Mark will be here, though, and that will be fun.

“It’s a really cool concept and a little different now than I expected but, nonetheless, will be a thrill. Just to compete and see a different part of the world is so interesting to me.”

Otten said she is also thrilled for the opportunity to be part of the event even though she didn’t initially realize that was why Brick was contacting her.

“At first, I didn’t think I was being invited,” Otten said. “I thought The Meadowlands was being invited for a partnership in a slot. And then he’s like, no, no, no, we want you to come down.”

Once Otten realized she was being asked to work the event, she just had to get permission from her supervisor.

“So, I emailed it to Rachel [Ryan], and she’s like, ‘You have to go,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, well, if you told me no, I was still going, I’m not going to miss this opportunity,’” Otten said with a laugh. “So, they just asked me if I could come and cover the event with them and kind of push it out on my social media pages and kind of follow Dexter and Yannick around and cover them, so that the U.S. sees what’s going on.”

Otten arrived in Australia on Saturday (Feb. 15), and is already posting about the competition on social media at 
https://x.com/JessicaOtten1.

Dunn and Gingras will take on Sweden’s Bjorn Goop, New Zealand’s Carter Dalgety and Australians Nathan Dawson, Angus Garrard, Kate Gath, Gary Hall, Jr., Brad Hewitt and Peter McMullen in the 20-race competition, which will be spread over two days.

Although this is not Dunn’s first international competition, as he told HRU’s Adam Hamilton, it’ll be an extremely busy weekend for him.

This is also not Gingras’ first international competition, but he said he’s always appreciative of being included.

“I’m just very thankful, once again, for the trust the Burke family / Weaver Bruscemi are putting in me,” Gingras said. “I certainly don’t take for granted what they have done for my career and they are showing it once again in providing this opportunity to me.”