Sport
17 January, 2025
Driver James Herbertson claims national title off the back of stacked 2024 season
Lexton local James Herbertson has added another milestone to his already stacked resume, winning the 2024 Australian Driving Premiership for the first time.
The 24-year-old claimed the premiership by winning 370 races across the 2024 season, nearly 100 more than runner-up Pete McMullen.
The achievement also coincides with him going back-to-back-to-back for the Victorian premiership with a staggering 20 percent of his starts translating into victories.
While reflecting on the 2024 season, Herbertson said it was a fantastic year filled with memories and achievements he will cherish forever.
“It’s the biggest achievement nationwide — it’s something that you strive for as a young person so to achieve it is a big thing for my career,” he said.
“It’s hard to pick out something because the whole year was great.
“The best thing out of the year was winning the Victorian Oaks, it’s a prestigious race to win and as a young person especially.
“Winning the Young Guns Series as well [was a highlight], that won me an all-expenses paid trip to Solvalla, Sweden in May for two weeks.
“One thing I really liked was winning six out of seven races at Yarra Valley throughout the year.”
With the Herbertson family already having a strong influence in Harness Racing before he was born, James seemed destined to adopt the family lifestyle and take it by storm.
According to Herbertson however, that pathway was never a foregone conclusion.
“My dad has been training for 40 years and my mother was a steward, my nan was a driver, my grandfather was a driver and trainer so it’s been in my blood,” he said.
“I wasn’t that interested early on before a mate of ours Matthew Craven started driving for dad and he sparked the flame in me.
“I just wanted to see how it went in those first couple of years and it just kept going forward in leaps and bounds.
“I can’t do what I do without the people behind me like my parents, family, trainers and owners.”
Despite his relatively young age, Herbertson has achieved a lot in the Harness Racing industry, with nearly 1500 wins and 2600 placings under his belt including six Group 1 victories.
Last season’s success didn’t come without a grueling schedule. Herbertson started in 1811 races in 2024, an average of five races a day.
“At the end of the day, the way I see it, you’re not going to go anywhere if you don’t work hard for it. Nothing is handed to you, especially in this industry,” Herbertson said.
“You just keep backing up day in and day out, it’s a seven-day-a-week lifestyle, just putting in the hours and having the right horses.
“It’s a tough schedule but I love what I do and the reward was there at the end of the year.”
Herbertson has picked up where he left off in 2025, already winning 14 races including a victory at the Maryborough Harness Racing Club last Friday.
Starting his tenth season as a driver, Herbertson said he is still determined to improve.
“You start to raise the bar each year of what you want and last year will be hard to top,” he said.
“I’m going to be away a bit this year so the numbers probably won’t be as big but I’ll try to raise the bar a bit more.”