It worked like a charm and a few hours later, in their debut race, Nikko and his pony Tricky Ricky found themselves in front with 100m left to run. A lack of racing experience proved no hurdle for Nikko, who kept his mare up to her work to win in convincing style.

But running into Winx's jockey wasn't a complete coincidence for Nikko, his pony came to the Anderson family from Hugh's father.

En route to the Scone Cup Carnival Nikko and his father Chris had stopped in Murrurundi where they bumped into Mr Bowman who, like Nikko, was racing at Scone later that day.

Mr Bowman decided to send Nikko off to the races with more than just his best wishes - a pair of his goggles and one of his whips now decorate Nikko's bedroom. The good luck charm had the desired effect as Nikko stormed to victory later that day in Scone.

While no stranger to the thrills of competing in equestrian sports (both his parents are polocrosse players and he has represented NSW in polocrosse himself), Nikko said winning the Scone Pony Race was "the biggest thrill I've had with horses".

Lindy Maurice, the CEO of Thoroughbred Industry Careers (TIC) which organised the inaugural Scone Pony Race as an exhibition event, said Nikko's response was one she commonly heard from children after competing in pony races.

"Many of the children say 'this is the best horse event I've ever done'," Ms Maurice said.

Ms Maurice said pony racing is essentially an amateur version of the thoroughbred racing seen on television every day, just with a smaller animal and over a shorter distance.

But pony racing is yet to become an established sport in Australia and Ms Maurice said the handful of exhibition events which have taken place in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and NSW have been the result of a determined effort to raise the sport's profile since she established TIC in 2019, having seen the role pony racing plays in supporting racing industries in the UK and Ireland.

However, with limited resources Ms Maurice said TIC has initially prioritised the training of staff to fill pressing vacancies on breeding farms and in racing stables across Australia by establishing the Explorer Cadetship Program, a 'gap year program' open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 24.

But Ms Maurice said through a recent partnership with Pony Club Australia, TIC had been able to hold more pony races across the country and encourage children from areas surrounding each of the races to participate in the sport.

"As we've become more professional as a sport, we've become less visible to the grassroots," Ms Maurice said of the racing industry.

"It's not just country kids (participating in pony racing), they come from a variety of backgrounds and different equestrian disciplines.

"There's been some really capable riders."

Despite Nikko being such an experienced rider, his mother Skye admits the initial thought of her son going faster than he's ever been, in a new environment and on a pony apparently named 'Tricky Ricky' for a reason, was not easy to deal with for the self-described "helicopter parent".

But Ms Anderson said "the professionalism of the whole event" had allayed her fears and gave particular credit to Ms Maurice, saying that with so many elements going into the raceday "she made sure everything was really well prepared".

Since returning from winning the race in Scone, Ms Anderson said the TV in their house has been playing racing films near-daily and that Nikko is now following the sport intently.

A future as a racing fan might not be the height of it for Nikko; Hugh Bowman also played polocrosse in his youth and Ms Anderson said she wouldn't discourage Nikko from pursuing a future career as a jockey.

But while a future Cox Plate or Melbourne Cup victory could be on the cards, for now Nikko can enjoy making history as the winner of the inaugural Scone Pony Race.