From now until March 12 Emma will join every other female driver in NSW in wearing teal pants to raise awareness and funds for The Women’s Cancer Foundation. 

Emma said Harness Racing NSW would donate $200 to The Women’s Cancer Foundation, which researches ovarian cancer, for any female driver who wins during this six-week period. The NSW TAB will match HRNSW with another $200 per win.

In a special honour, Emma has been selected as one of three ambassadors and will wear the teal colours on top as well. 

Emma was chosen to be an ambassador because she is currently the leading woman driver in NSW. Since September 1, 2015 she has notched up 32 wins. 

“I’m really hoping this won’t be a slow month,” she joked. 

When one of her friends, Reg Morris, asked if he could donate $20 every time she won a race, Emma and her mum Wendy Turnbull came up with an idea. Realising that raising any extra money for the cause was a good thing, they decided to approach friends and businesses and ask if they would also be willing to fork out $20 for each of Emma’s wins over the next six weeks. 

“It snowballed and so far we have more than 57 people and businesses all donating $20 every time I win,” Emma said. “People have been amazing. I asked the question and everyone said yes right away. That’s really encouraging. This means every one of my wins should bring in an additional $1540 for ovarian cancer research.”

She said she was aiming for between five and 10 wins during the allotted time.

Emma might not have had the best start to her fundraising campaign at Dubbo on Wednesday night when she came in second, but she is confident it will be different story in Bathurst on Sunday. She is pretty confident she will record six or seven wins. 

“If anyone else would like to jump in and pledge $20 a win, well, that would be fantastic. They can contact me on 0408 636405,” she said.

Emma and her mum, who is a trainer, will also put in $100 whenever they have a win. 

Emma said ovarian cancer was a silent killer of women. 

“Nowadays there are so many good causes and that makes it hard for everyone to support them all,” she said. “This is something harness racing can do to make a difference.”

Emma hopes the spectators at all local harness racing meetings will cheer the teal pants home to a win for the cause.