The Kavanagh College 15-year-old will be competing in the 2017 Kidz Kartz Rising Stars championships for aspiring harness racing drivers, which starts in Cambridge today.
The competition pits 12 of the best from Australasia in a six-race series driving pint-size pony racers.
The dozen 13 to 17-year olds selected to represent their regional clubs will race three times at Cambridge raceway today and then three more times at Alexandra Park in Auckland on Friday.
Temika, the daughter of Tomahawk trainer Nora Bishop, was selected to represent the Otago Kidz Kartz Club, whose members meet each week at Forbury Park.
On top of their equine education, the drivers then compete throughout Otago on race days during the harness racing season.
Temika has been participating in the programme for six years and is excited about getting the chance to test her skills, though she has some nerves about stepping up from competing at local level.
``I'm really excited - a bit nervous, though.''
Ponies are randomly paired with drivers for each of the heats and then the drivers are given 20 minutes to bond with them before going out on the track.
That means Bishop will have to call on all of her horse-whispering abilities and then put her skills as a driver to use in the sulky behind her new charge.
Going into the series without knowing which pony she will be driving means it is difficult for the young reinswoman to have goals or make predictions on where she will finish.
Bishop would simply be trying as hard as she can in each race, she said.
The Kidz Kartz programme has been responsible for the early development of a number of the South's younger drivers in the open ranks. Regular Forbury Park visitors Sheree Tomlinson, John Morrison and Chelsea Faithful were all examples of horse people who had come through the Kidz Kartz programme.
Newly licensed Wingatui jockey Corey Campbell also got his grounding with horses through the scheme.
Bishop has put herself in a good position to follow in their footsteps, but she is undecided on whether she will make professional horse driving a career pursuit or not.
``I have been thinking about it.
``I still want to be involved with the horses. It is really fun, but I am not too sure about driving.''
- Jonny Turner
