Moni’s no longer scared of horses and she’s forgiven dad for pushing her into stable job

Some of the many Facebook posts congratulating Monika on her first win.Monika Ranger never really liked horses and there were plenty of times when she regretted being pushed into a career in harness racing.

But that was all forgotten amid the high fives and congratulations after she drove her first winner at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

And, in the ultimate irony, when Ranger swept to the lead 100 metres out on Call Me Trouble, it was the calming words of champion reinsman Tony Herlihy, beside her on Aardiebythehill, that helped her to the magic moment.

“I was getting a bit excited then my horse chucked in a rough step and Tony saw me throwing my reins around and said ‘hold on to him, you’ve got this’.

“I grabbed hold but wouldn’t have contained myself had he not said that.”

Ranger, 26, now working at Lincoln Farms, has come a long way since she reluctantly took her first job at Herlihy’s Strike Won Stable, forced into going by her dad Duane, the epitome of the pushy parent.

“I was at high school when dad saw this Facebook post by Tony and Suzanne Herlihy saying they were looking for stable workers.

“He messaged them and said I’d come - without telling me. He didn’t tell me until a couple of days out and I was shitting myself. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked me.

Monika enjoys her first winner.“He said it will be good, you can earn a bit of money.”

Ranger says it was more like her dad was pushing her to live his dream - the closest he had got to horses was as a racing journalist.

“I went along but after the first day I didn’t want to go back. I had real anxiety, I was so tired, and I didn’t enjoy it. Not growing up with horses I didn’t know a lot and I was intimidated by them.”

Even when her dad took her to Kidz Kartz as a youngster many years earlier, she didn’t really like it.

It was there she met the late trainer Tom Saia, a fellow Tongan who helped her and gave her her first helmet.

Monika … not intimidated by horses any more.“I sort of enjoyed the competition of driving ponies but I had a few accidents which threw me off.”

Ranger is thankful now that she stuck it out in those early days.

“I kept thinking ‘I don’t think I can do this, I don’t know anything, I’m not good enough’, but I kept going and gradually got more confidence.

“Initially I started doing (mucking out) boxes because I had no experience with horses. But Suzanne really looked after me - she was the best. It was like I was the golden child. She always cooked dinner and made sure I was OK and got what I needed.”

Slowly Ranger was introduced to taking horses out to the paddock and, after a year, she realised she was starting to enjoy herself.

Winning Harness Racing New Zealand’s groom of the year award was a big filip, as was the night she strapped Temporale when he won his first Group I race, the 2017 National Trot.

Dad Duane taking notes as his daughter Monika and Tony Herlihy embrace after Temporale’s first Group I winner.A photograph of her hugging her boss when he came back to scale, with her dad taking notes alongside, is a family favourite.

“I started to get interested in the racing and remember watching the juniors and thinking could that be me? ‘No, I don’t have the guts, I’m not good enough’.”

Ranger stayed with the Herlihys for five years and says she learned most of what she knows there, broadening her boundaries through a two-year stint with Steven Reid and Simon McMullen before moving a few metres to Lincoln Farms.

Ranger says she’s lucky to have Lincoln Farms plus its No. 1 driver Zachary Butcher and also the Reid-McMullen team supporting her with drives.

“If it hadn’t been for Zac I’d have struggled to get a drive, he’s really helped by giving me a go - and he’s only got two horses of his own.”

Very nervous

Ranger said she was very nervous before getting into the sulky behind Call Me Trouble on Friday night. It was her third drive behind the tricky trotter and memories of her inauspicious debut effort behind the horse, when he galloped after only a few hundred metres on January 21, were still fresh.

“He was hanging real bad and he was looking round at me, probably thinking: “Is there even a driver there, he was so used to Zac.

“When I asked Zac on Friday how to drive Call Me Trouble, he said: ‘Moni I don’t care what you do. Go out there and have fun’.

Call Me Trouble outfinishes Aardiebythehill. PHOTO: Megan Liefting/Race Images.“That took a lot of pressure off. And when I asked if he had any advice he said ‘just go out and drive and when you come back I’ll tell you what you could have done better’.”

Ranger says she was so excited after winning that she couldn’t even reply on pulling up when congratulated by first Ben Butcher then Herlihy.

Job done: Trainer Zachary Butcher with Monika and Call Me Trouble.“But I think Zac was more excited than me. He was the first one out there, along with my partner Shane (Butcher) and Simon.”

Ranger knows that even though she’s won at just her seventh drive, it’s hard for juniors to get good opportunities.

“Hopefully Zac and Simon and Reidy help keep me going till others offer me drives. If it hadn’t been for them pushing me I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Ranger is also training one of her own she thinks can add to her tally.

She’s leased a Bettor’s Delight filly named Kourtney Kardash from Woodlands Stud who is now two and is a full brother to the fast pacer Steel The Show (6 wins) and a full sister to the exciting Lady Of The Light (5 wins).

“I’ve done two preps with her and she looks promising. She’ll be back in work in April. She’s had one workout and ran second to The Notorious R B G (an impressive Young Guns heat winner on February 18).”

In the meantime, Ranger is hoping to land win No. 2 at Cambridge on Wednesday when Zac Butcher has high hopes that his good four-year-old Zarias can win fresh-up after two smart workout wins.