Carter Dalgety
Valaachi Downs Young Achiever Scholarship 2024

The recipient of the 2024 Valachi Downs Young Achiever Award is Canterbury harness racing driver Carter Dalgety.

Carter is an individual who always seeks to better both his personal standards and those of the industry he cherishes, and he has excelled as a racing driver. While working full-time in racing and travelling throughout the country to drive, Carter is studying for a Bachelor’s in Commerce with a double major, which he will complete this year. He has also developed and is running his own clothing company. 

Carter realises there are different styles of Standardbred rearing, training and racing internationally. He will use the scholarship money to spend six weeks in the USA this year, where horses race younger and run only over a mile. He then wants to go to Sweden for another six weeks in 2025, where racehorses are older and race over far longer distances. Armed with this knowledge, Carter wants to bring innovative ideas back to NZ to help advance the Standardbred industry here. With his excellent work ethic and enquiring mind, Carter is the ideal recipient of this prestigious award.

The NZERF acknowledges the recent passing of Kevin Hickman, a long-time supporter of our activities. In particular, the Hickman Family and Valachi Downs have generously sponsored the Valachi Downs Young Achiever Award for the last 10 years, which has enabled 10 young New Zealanders to undertake further study, often internationally, in their chosen equine career.

Without this support, we would not have been able to offer this opportunity to these high-achieving individuals. The NZERF is genuinely grateful to the Hickman family for having made this award possible.