Rookie harness driver Liam Stones is having an outstanding debut season.

With each passing race day, the 15-year-old Mount Saint Agnes student has come on in leaps and bounds at the helm of Belhaven Stables’s seven-year-old stallion Reel Desire, and the traditional Boxing Day races at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre proved to be no exception.

The promising teenager grasped his moment to shine on the big day as he recorded a clean sweep of victories in the 1:08/1-1:09 time bar to take his overall season tally to nine.

“I have raced against the other horse several times this season and expected to do well,” Stones told The Royal Gazette.

“My pony was excited to race and I got two wins in my two heats. My pony was moody on Friday, but I was able to channel his energy into wins. He is always keen to run and I have managed to get at least one win in most of the meets this season.”

Reel Desire and Stones could not have asked for a better start to the day after posting 1:08 flat in their opening heat to get a leg in the higher 1:06/3-1:08 time bar.

What turned out as an experiment has now flourished into a burgeoning racing career for the young driver.

“I have worked at Belhaven for the past few years as a junior counsellor and tried out jogging the ponies while I was there,” Stones said.

“I was offered the opportunity to race over the summer and worked with the pony three times a week to get used to the rig.

“I started at the beginning of the season in September and am looking to finish out the season and improve my times overall.”

For Stones, winning races is not the only incentive every time he enters the race track.

“I am also using the experience for my Silver Duke of Edinburgh requirements,” he said.

With confidence high, Stones is now looking to produce another strong showing in the upcoming New Year’s Day races at Vesey Street.

“On New Year’s Day I am hoping that the pony races well so that we can get a good result,” he said.

Boxing Day turned out to be a truly memorable one for Belhaven Stables as their four-year-old gelding Smart Machine and driver Candyce Martins regained the season’s fastest time after posting a 1:01/4 in the opening heat in the Free for All division.

“It feels good to have regained the season’s fastest time outright,” Martins said. “I just let the pony run and do his thing, and he enjoys it.”

The time was two-fifths of a second shy of the gelding’s record (1:01/2), jointly held by War Machine and Simsfield Hardtimes, and three-fifths off the overall track record (1:01/1) established by Tyler Lopes’s retired mare Google Me.

It was also a fifth of a second off Smart Machine’s lifetime best (1:01/3), which he achieved last season to tie the three-year-old gelding’s record.

Smart Machine and Martins, who held a share of the season’s fastest time of 1:02 flat with rival gelding Red October and driver Philip Correia heading into the holiday race day, also swept both heats in his division.

Like Stones, Martins is also excited to see what her pony now has in store on New Year’s Day.

“I am excited just to see what comes out of it,” she said.

“I don’t really have any expectations. I am just letting the pony do what he enjoys, and that's running.”