First Win For Junior Driver Darcy Kulcsar

06 March 2025 | Ashleigh Paikos
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Mary & Darcy Kulcsar after his win at Gloucester Park on Winegum NZ

Mary & Darcy Kulcsar after his win at Gloucester Park on Winegum NZ Photo by Pacepix

Darcy Kulcsar may have waited until start 51 to get that elusive first win but that doesn’t dull the excitement, with that winning feeling filling the 17-year-old with even more motivation to succeed.

Driving Winegum NZ for trainer Kat Warwick, Kulcsar head to Gloucester Park on Tuesday night for just the one drive on his book but after doing his form, he knew he was in with a shot, with the $16 shot claiming the fourth on the card.

“The horse felt really good, and it was a good feeling (to get the win.”

“Since I have been working the horse, it was good to get that win with him.” Kulcsar said.

Kulcsar was confident throughout the run and with the horse travelling well, he was able to pull out wide down the back straight to win with a 2.5m margin.

After leaving school in year 10 to pursue a career in harness racing, Kulcsar found himself in the extremely capable stables of Kat and Trevor Warwick, and opportunity he’s very grateful for.

“I probably wouldn’t have got my first win if I wasn’t here, he (Trevor Warwick) helped me with my first win.”

“He helped me have better hold of the horse and use my whip a lot better and showed me all the different tactics I can use, and when I went wrong somewhere and I had a bunch of questions, he always gave me a hand and gave me a different view of what I can do.”

Growing up with horses, with his mum Mary Kulcsar training standardbreds, there was never a time he didn’t think horses would be in his future and starting in Pony trots in 2015 at just 7/8 years old, he eventually graduated from the pint-sized trotters when he took out his stable hands licence at around 14-years of age.

“When I got my stable hands licence, I helped my mum trackwork horses and it just got more fun and I started really enjoying it, and it just felt like something I was interested in.”

With Kulcsar only being 17, he has plenty of time on his side, he has expressed that he would like to one day train horses, but it is “a while off.”

Darcy Kulcsar heads to Bunbury on Friday night to drive two-year-old Ikes Got The Mike for trainer Kat Wariwck in the last, race seven, at 8.45pm.

 

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