THE Lagoon’s Amanda Turnbull has smashed records in Australia, won premierships and Group 1 races, but when she boarded a plane bound for New Zealand yesterday it was with another all mighty challenge on her mind.

Turnbull will have two members of her team in action at this Saturday’s Harness Jewels meeting in Ashburton, New Zealand, a day of racing the host nation claims is ‘a season defining event.’

The nine-race program features the best age group pacers and trotters and offers a total of $NZ1.2 million in stakes. That makes it one of the biggest single-day meetings in New Zealand.

Turnbull will have Just Cala contesting the four-year-old mares Diamond and Glenferrie Bronte in the three-year-old fillies Diamond – both Group 1 races to be run over 1,609 metres with a $NZ150,000 purse.

She will drive Just Cala while her partner and fellow trainer Nathan Jack gets the job with Glenferrie Bronte.

“We are both really excited, we can’t wait and we are going to learn a lot as well because this is the first time that we have taken horses overseas,” she said.

“We are certainly going over there and hoping to get a win, but we are certainly looking to learn a lot too. I guess you could call it a working holiday.

“It actually worked out really well, Glenferrie Bronte was invited first, then it was really good when Just Cala got an invite because they are both mates.”

Turnbull has previously driven in New Zealand as part of a young driver series, but she knows it is a big step up from those races in Christchurch to the Ashburton features.

It is only the second time the board of Harness Racing NZ has extended Harness Jewels invitations to Australian horses, having first made the move to do so last year.

The fields are full of quality runners, Just Cala’s rivals including three mares – Gracious Star, C A Penny and Willow – who head into the feature searching for their fourth consecutive victories.

Glenferrie Bronte won’t have it any easier as she will be pitted against the like of Natalie Rasmussen’s Fight For Glory, a filly who has five wins and a second placing from her last six starts.

Still, the barrier draws have offered Turnbull’s duo some assistance.

Just Cala, who last year won the Group 1 three-year-old fillies Breeders Crown Final, is set to go from barrier two. The Art Major x Lil Sistar mare’s last three starts have been in Listed Classics and she finished as the runner-up in two of those.

Glenferrie Bronte has drawn barrier four and will be looking to continue a strong season which has seen her notch up five wins and three placings from eight starts. Her efforts include a third in the Group 1 Victorian Oaks.

“We were pretty lucky with both of them,” Turnbull said after seeing the barrier draw.

“It is going to be very hard for them, but they have drawn okay in two and four. It is still going to be hard for them both from there, but we will hopefully be able to mix it up with them.

“I think they can do okay if they have a good flight over.”

The meeting will get underway at 1.40pm (AEST) on Saturday.