Champion Queensland reinsman Pete McMullen has been unveiled as the 10th and final driver to secure their spot in the Ladbrokes Ultimate Driver Championship.
Affectionately known as ‘Leader Peter’, McMullen is the third local driver selected for the series, which will see more than $250,000 in prize money go on the line at Albion Park on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22, 2025.
McMullen has solidified himself amongst the sport’s top reinsmen – both locally and nationally – as one of only five drivers in Australasia to have surpassed 300 wins in a season.
The six-time Group 1 winner has notched up more than 3,000 career triumphs, as well as two JD Watts Awards, bestowed upon the nation’s premier driver.
Leader Peter has been selected by the Unharnessed Hawks Syndicate, made up of club volunteers from local Australian Rules club the Sandgate Hawks, who purchased one of the $20,000 slots.
McMullen will join fellow Sunshine State drivers Nathan Dawson and Angus Garrard in the Championship.
“Pete McMullen sits in the top echelon of drivers Queensland has ever produced, and it’s a deserved honour that he will get to take on some of the world’s best in February,” Racing Queensland Senior Racing Manager - Harness David Brick said.
“As one of only two local drivers to surpass the 300-win mark in a season, Pete was always going to be in hot demand for one of the 10 available slots.
“It was an easy choice for the Unharnessed Hawks Syndicate, and it’s another tick of approval for the Championship as a whole to have a local footy club see the potential for what it will bring to the sport and get involved at its inception.
The Ultimate Drivers Championship has garnered significant international interest, with three of the world’s premier drivers in Dexter Dunn, Bjorn Groop and Yannick Gingras all locked in to take their place in the two-day event.
New Zealand young gun Carter Dalgety, alongside fellow Australasian superstars Gary Hall Jnr, Kate Gath and Brad Hewitt round out the selected drivers.
Staged on the eve of the Sunshine Stars Yearling Sale, slot holders will soon turn their attention to selecting their horses across 20 action-packed races.
Slot holders will receive points throughout the 20 races based on finishing position, with the slot holder/driver who accrues the most points declared the winner.
The overall Ultimate Driver and their slot holder will receive $100,000, with the winner of each race to receive $1,000 per race victory.
Race fields for the series will be collated in the same as any other driver series (where trainers nominate their horses without a driver assigned), while all races will be penalty free.
The draft to partner drivers with horses will be conducted as a ‘snake order draft’, with slot holders able to choose any of the available horses left across the 20 races until all drivers/slot holders are assigned to a horse in each race.
The Ladbrokes Ultimate Driver Championship drivers are:
- Dexter Dunn (Ladbrokes);
- Bjorn Goop (Tumby Park Syndicate);
- Nathan Dawson (First Over Crush Syndicate);
- Gary Hall Jnr (Gloucester Park Gurus);
- Kate Gath (Gath Racing Group supporting Team Teal);
- Angus Garrard (SEN, Garrards and 1Equine Syndicate);
- Peter McMullen (The Unharnessed Hawks Syndicate);
- Carter Dalgety (N40 Racing / Boys Get Paid Syndicate);
- Yannick Gingras (ABR/Summit Bloodstock/Ron Burke/Weaver Bruscemi Syndicate); and
- Brad Hewitt (Triple Play Syndicate).
Click here for more information on the Ultimate Driver Championship.
