Late bloomer turns it around with six from 24

The turnaround in form of Ballarat region pacer Masake hasn’t surprised her harness racing trainer Wayne Jackson in the slightest.

“She was very hormonal and just needed time to mature. Her dam was exactly the same, so we’ve been quite happy to be patient,” the Snake Valley trainer said.

“We knew she had a bit of ability, so it didn’t really worry us. We’ve got a 20-acre property, so it was easy to just toss her out now and again.”

Six-year-old mare Masake (Maffioso-For Sevens Sake (Aces N Sevens) took 30 race starts to break her maiden status-and now, remarkably, has a total of six career wins from her latest 24 outings.

In her most recent victory at Horsham, champion reinsman Greg Sugars sent her straight to the top and she was never headed.

“At home she was always very quiet. We tried a few things including having a big glass marble inserted (a procedure where a 35mm marble is placed into a mare’s uterus to suppress behavioral estrus), but that didn’t work so it was always going to take time,” Jackson said.

“The dam and then her first two fillies were all the same, so we knew what we were in for. But she is a real trier and if she could win a few more we’ll be rapt,” he said.

Masake has now been turned out for a short freshen up.

“She was flat as a tack after her Maryborough run, but the Lather Up promotion event at Horsham was too good to miss. By winning we’ve now got a one in six chance of getting a free service to the stallion,” he said.

Woodlands Stud is sponsoring six races, the last at Swan Hill on September 30, and the winning owners of each event will enter a draw for a free service to Lather Up, the world’s fastest pacer.

Wayne Jackson, who has now been at Snake Valley for 18 years, followed his father Bill into the sport.

“Dad was at Bulla for a while, and he mainly got the second stringers from a big owner. He did a pretty good job,” Jackson said.

Jackson worked at Metro Dairies (now Pura) at Broadmeadows for 25 years, starting out as a milkman and ending up a manager. He helped out fellow Victorian trainer Bob Olson for a time while living at Chelsea Heights, near Frankston.

“Bob had a small jog track at his place, and we’d cart the horses into Cranbourne for fast work,” he said.

“I spent a lot of time in Queensland after I got married and drove at many of the old tracks like Southport, Rocklea, Tweed Heads, Ipswich, Toowoomba and we even took some to Charters Towers.

“I wasn’t the greatest driver, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually won at my last drive at Rocklea. Over the years I’ve regretted not keeping my licence so I could at least drive at the trials.”

He still has fond memories of a return trip north with a pair of talented pacers in Conarvon and Sister Bernice.

“We got the money at Southport with Conarvon, who was 11 years old. Sister Bernice was a one-eyed pacer and was suited by the clockwise way of going back then at Albion Park. She won a couple of times. We were great friends with a fine horseman in Kerry Langlands who shifted up there from Victoria,” Jackson said.

“Sister Bernice had two foals when she retired-the first by Black Gamecock won at Harold Park, Moonee Valley and Albion Park, and I know the second one was successful at Moonee Valley.”

Masake is related to the recently-retired Shadow Sax and the family of Pure Steel. She was bred and is raced by Jackson’s wife Denise. They are now hoping that Masake’s Sportswriter half-brother Subscribe can step up to the plate.

“He’s only a two-year-old, but a big strapping youngster,” he said.

“My wife Denise is the breeder. She selects the sires and just loves the horses. She also has a show horse and shows dachshunds-when COVID allows.”

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink