BROTHER AND sister Glenn and Anne-Maree Conroy occasionally find themselves pitted against each other on the track as they were last night at Bray Raceway.
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They raced against each other in the Carlton Draught Trotters Handicap.
Harness racing and trotters, in particular, have always been "in the blood" of the Conroy family, of Daylesford.
Wizened father Bob Conroy is the patriarch of the family - so cunning it is purported that foxes on the outskirts of Daylesford come in during the early morning to ask his advice.
But last night Glenn and Anne-Maree needed no advice with almost 500 wins between them.
While it wasnChr(39)t its night last night, the Conroy family has made its reputation from training out-of-sorts and supposedly unwinnable trotters and pacers.
The Conroy family is part of a select 10 per cent of harness racing people that make their soleliving from harness racing.
All "three families" - Bob, Glenn and Anne-Maree, rely on the success of the horses they train and drive.
Last night Glenn drove Sundance, a "hand-me-down" seven-year-old mare from New Zealand that already has given the Conroys five wins in just 12 months.
The other horse, Lochlee No Name, driven by Anne-Maree, finished fifth last night despite its penchant for jumping the start.
Glenn said both he and Anne-Maree were aware of each other in the race "but we are both ambitious enough to win all the time".
"As a family we are still waiting for that 15 minutes of fame because we are only getting 10 seconds at a time at the moment," he said.
In race 2 last night, Lombo Mondoluce (Kerryn Gath) just failed by a short half head to tip out promising filly Whodoyathinkiam, driven by Trevor Dove.
Whodoyathinkiam has now won its last four starts, after taking out the Thames Water 3YO Pace.
Melbourne owners of the former Redcliffe, Brisbane, horse, John and Christine Yeomans, canChr(39)t believe how lucky they were to secure the horse.
The filly won its last two starts at Redcliffe and has continued its form down south, winning at Geelong and now Ballarat.
They said the horse was still a little bit underdone but intended to set the horse for the Eastern Zone Series.
