Another major Grimson-Hart moment at Cranbourne

Jason Grimson’s Victorian reclamation projects are quickly becoming the stuff of legend after the New South Wales harness racing trainer added a second Group 1 in eight days on Saturday (Dec. 17).

Major Meister (Art Major) balanced up, found the front and then claimed complete control to capture the Decron Cranbourne Pacing Cup, a second successive win since the five-year-old joined Grimson and, on this occasion, in no less than a $100,000 feature.

The success follows I Cast No Shadow’s stunning win in the SENTrack Inter Dominion final last Saturday for the trainer and reinsman Cam Hart.

“He was super impressive tonight,” Hart told TrotsVision. “Jason and I thought he’d take a step and he definitely has and he ran a really strong last couple of sections.”

Hart drove with confidence, with stablemate Firefox zipping to the front from gate three while Major Meister balanced up and worked forward, moving to the head of affairs with a tick over two laps to run.

Mach Dan soon moved to his outside and then, with about 1200 metres to go, Michael Stanley advanced the race favourite Rock N Roll Doo to the chair, setting the table for the battle to the line.

“I thought Rock N Roll Doo was probably the one to beat coming into the race, you have to respect his Victoria Cup win, it was a massive run,” Hart said. “We definitely made him work down the back.”

A 26.9-second third quarter picked up the pace and Major Meister held an advantage off the final turn that neither Mach Dan, who ran into second, or Rock N Roll Doo (third) could threaten.

“He was powerful tonight, he probably travelled a lit more than I would have liked him to have early, he was pretty revved up out of the gate after that false start, but he did come back to me,” Hart said.

“He travelled really hard and coming off the back he still had a good kick left.”

“THE SYDNEY BOYS DO IT AGAIN!”
Jason Grimson and Cam Hart add the Decron Cranbourne Pacing Cup to last week’s ID22 triumph with Major Meister leading all the way to score.
Great racing on https://t.co/p8SlwkvsDr pic.twitter.com/DVU7Eg9xpJ

— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) December 17, 2022

And while the $57,000 haul for tonight’s win was about four-fold of anything Major Meister had captured in a race before, Hart was optimistic they’re just getting rolling.

“I think the sky’s the limit after that run,” he said. “We obviously thought he was a nice horse but he had to show it against decent company and he did tonight.

“I really think we will see the best of him at Menangle, he still doesn’t handle these tracks that great to be honest, it’s just lucky that he’s been on the fence these last couple of starts and that’s shown his best. I think when he gets back to Menangle he’s going to be a really nice horse.”

Tonight’s Cup also marked the last leg of the Trots Country Cups Championship, which was won by Demon Delight, who claimed the Echuca and Chartlon cups in March.

Demon Delight amassed 19 points to finish one ahead of stablemate Phoenix Prince and two clear of Torrid Saint, who ran seventh at Cranbourne to add one point to his total, but needed a win to claim the $35,000 bonus.

For complete race results, click here.

by Michael Howard, for The Trots