Rookie harness driver Kevin Sousa has come a long way in a short period of time.At the beginning of the 2011-12 harness racing season the 20-year-old truck driver wasn’t even involved in the sport.Sousa only started competing at Vesey Street last November but since then he has come on in leaps and bounds, with his first career win arriving during the previous round of racing.He achieved the milestone competing in the 1.07/3 1.09/3 time bar with mare, IC’s Flashy Anne, which is owned by his uncle Ricky Wilkinson.Sousa said getting the better of his famous cousin and boss, Joe Vieria, in the first heat made victory all the more special.“That felt good because I was racing against my cousin and so that made it even better,” he added: “I enjoyed it and was really happy with the way the horse ran.”Had it not been for a freak accident involving a close friend Sousa’s harness racing career might have taken flight much earlier than it actually did.“After one of my mates had a really bad accident my mom would not allow me to race,” he recalled. “Harness racing has always interested me and I also love being around animals.”After spending a few weeks in the stables working with horses Sousa eventually built up the courage to approach Wilkinson about the possibility of racing his retired mare.The rest is history.“I asked my uncle Rick could I take his pony and he said ‘no problem’ and I have been training and racing her ever since,” Sousa said.Wilkinson added: “She (IC’s Flashy Anne) had been retired for two years and he asked if could he jog her and eventually asked was it okay to race her and I said ‘yes’.“It started out to be recreational and then it turned into something more serious. Kevin has potential and the horse definitely likes him.”Wilkinson said it was always only a matter of time before his nephew took to the sport.“He has been around ponies since he was eight or ten so it was always in his blood,” he added. “He enjoys the pony and it (racing) keeps him out of trouble.”With his first win under his belt, Sousa has now set his sights on the other goals to strive for both on and off the racetrack.“I hope I can keep winning and I am looking to buy my own pony this summer,” he said. “That’s my main goals right now.”Elsewhere at Vesey Street at the weekend, Colin Mello’s stud Big Red Machine made a clean sweep of top honours in the Free for All. However, the same could not be said for Brenda Cordoza’s mare, Black and Mild, which failed to live up to expectations in the Free for All.Starting this weekend, Black and Mild will compete in the Junior Free for All after requesting to do so.Other drivers achieving multiple wins during the last round of harness racing included Darico Clarke (Time After Time and Sure Grand), Andy Stoneham (What a Sensation), Eddie Roque (Casmir Camotion and GV Crystal Ball), Aaron Sims (Imagine That), Cameron Harris (GV Speed Demon) and Thomas Whited (American Treat).