Jason Grimson has become one of the most talked about harness racing trainers in recent times.
At just the age of 29, the boy from the country town of Young in New South Wales has trained six Group 1 winners, across two countries, and all in a short space of time.
He grew up driving mini trotters and in 2015/16 made his debut as a trainer.
Grimsonās first Group 1 success was with his filly Donāt Think Twice in the 2016 Bathurst Gold Tiara and the success for the young horseman has all snowballed from there.
He is the last trainer to win an Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final and he has two horses aimed at this yearās series in Victoria to defend his title.
They are Majestic Cruiser (Art Major) and I Cast No Shadow (Shadow Play), who both have already delivered Group 1 glory for Grimson this year.
Despite this, neither are favourites to win their first Inter Dominion heat at Ballarat on Saturday night (Nov. 26).
I Cast No Shadow won the Group 1 winner Len Smith Mile at Menangle last start and Majestic Cruiser has just campaigned in New Zealand where he finished second in both the NZ Cup and NZ Free-For-All against that countryās best equine athletes.
And Grimson is happy with both of them ahead of their Inter Dominion quest.
āThey are well within themselves and settled in well,ā said Grimson.
āMajestic Cruiser has some condition on him after arriving from NZ but he is like that.ā
Grimson won the Inter Dominion on home soil last year with Boncel Benjamin and the easy-going horseman is not fazed about preparing his horses for such a gruelling campaign interstate.
āIf youāre relaxed your horses are relaxed,ā he said.
āThey are happy here.ā
Grimson has based himself at Ahmed Taibaās property in Sunbury for this campaign.
He has brought a number of horses south from his Menangle base including Celebrating and Fire Fox that are racing at Melton tonight (Nov. 25) and new stable acquisition Major Meister at Ballarat on Saturday night.
For complete race fields for Melton, click here.
For complete race fields for Ballarat, click here.
by Amanda Rando, for Harnesslink