Piltz enjoyed his maiden success on the Doug O'Connell-trained Badlands Noddy ($8.00) in the Junee Pacers Cup January 26^th Pace (1760m).

The 17-year-old was having just his seventh drive and gave Badlands Noddy every chance as he raced away to score by five metres.

Piltz guided the lightly-raced seven-year-old into the coveted one out, one back position and then timed his run to perfection to race away for a memorable victory.

Piltz was thrilled to get the monkey off his back so early in his career.

"I never thought I would get it this early," Piltz said.

"I thought I would get it further down the track but my whole family had confidence in me. Ever since the fields came out they were confident I could do it and even the owner said I've got confidence in you, which helped."

The victory took a little time to sink in for Piltz.

"It did. It took a while to sink in but once I watched it back on the video it was better, I was like 'okay, I won'," he said.

"It surprised me. It was my first time driving on the track and I had to get used to going uphill and downhill but I had confidence in the horse."

A first-year apprentice cabinetmaker in Leeton, Piltz got into harness racing through his dad Tony, a trainer-driver himself.

His parents, Tony and Laura, recently moved to Sydney but Sebastian has stayed in Leeton where he is working a couple of horses of his own.

Piltz can't speak highly enough of the thrills associated with the sport.

"I love every minute of it," he said.

"The nerves you get, the adrenaline and everything. It's just awesome."

Piltz has predominantly driven for Griffith trainer Doug O'Connell to date but hopes to eventually race a couple of his own pacers.

"I've got two of my own horses," he said.

"I'm not racing them at the moment, I'm just getting them fit enough but next year if they come on hopefully I can go for it."

The win was Badland Noddy's second of his career but first under O'Connell's care.

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