By MICHAEL GUERIN
He is a young man having the best year of his career.
A junior driver who has exceeded his goal for the season, driving more winners and securing more drives.
And at Alexandra Park tonight he is hoping to end this chapter of his career on a high.
No, I'm not talking about Mark Jones. Because tonight Jones may have to take a back seat to the star northern junior driver of this season, Gene Robb.
So dominant has Jones been this season as he strives for the once seemingly impossible 100 wins as a junior driver the efforts of some other young guns have been virtually ignored.
New Zealand's second best junior driver, Blair Orange, has had a stunning season, during which he has matured into a serious driving force at any level through his 43 wins, including an Invercargill Cup.
But away from the spotlight, away from the big stakes and big races that Jones and occasionally Orange chase, Gene Robb has been climbing the ladder.
His has driven 16 winners this season, two better than his previous best of 14.
If you compared that with Jones' 96 wins you could make the mistake of thinking Robb is an also-ran in the junior drivers' ranks. But that is not the full story.
Robb's 16 wins make him clearly the leading junior driver in the North Island. And being a junior driver in the North Island is a thankless task.
This season northern clubs have done their best to support the youngsters but one of the weaknesses of the competitive northern training ranks is the lack of support trainers sometimes give these races.
In the north we have a small horse population with a disproportionate number of top horseman. This is a hard place for even a top class reinsman to make a living.
So junior drivers like Robb are often left to survive on the scraps from the table of the Herlihys and McKendrys, driving on the Central Districts circuit where the trips are long and the cheques are small.
Robb has the added disadvantage of not being attached to a major stable, having to secure drives the hard way.
So maybe 16 wins is not the best way to sum up his season. Perhaps the most significant indication of how far Robb has come are the six drives he has at Alexandra Park tonight. Drives that could have gone to anyone of the superstars he sits alongside in the drivers' room.
"It has been a struggle but I am pretty happy with 16 wins for the season," says Robb.
"It is hard for a junior driver up here and often even when you do get drives they are behind outsiders.
"But you just have to keep working, trying to get better and hope to get on a good horse."
Robb looks to fellow drivers like Todd Mitchell and Tony Shaw, who through the deeds of Homin Hosed and Yulestar, have been launched on to the Grand Circuit.
Like all talented junior drivers Robb knows the first two or three years in the senior ranks will be crucial to his career.
"That is why I am taking out a training licence next season so I can work a few horses and try and get a good one somewhere along the line," he said.
"It won't be easy but you have got to try to find out.
"But I suppose a few years ago if I'd been going to Alexandra Park for six drives I'd have been thrilled."
Even more thrilling is going to Alexandra Park thinking you are going to win the final junior drivers' race of your career.
Robb partners warm favourite Falcon Scooter in tonight's junior race, in which Jones and Orange will drive key rivals Smooth Acquisition and Dewee Adios.
"I drove him at the workouts last week and he went great. We beat Dewee Adios and I thought we had him pretty well covered," said Robb.
Falcon Scooter destroyed a handy field, including Smooth Acquisition, two starts ago and looks headed for a better grade than the class two event he contests tonight.
Later in the night Robb will partner Graelin, the southern trotter he has helped train in a caretaking capacity for the past two months.
"He went better at last weekend's workouts and is an each way hope."
And then it will be over. A junior driving career in which Robb has had personal highlights but spent little time in the spotlight, a career where it has been impossible to keep up with the Joneses.
But a junior driving career in which he has honed enough skills and impressed enough trainers to take the next step.
Now the real challenge begins. It won't be easy. But Gene Robb is used to that.
Racing: Robb in tough struggle to keep up with the Joneses
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