Master Catch’s Maitland Cup

Tough Hunter Valley pacer Master Catch (Tiz A Masterpiece) appreciated the drop in class when he outclassed his harness racing rivals to take out this year’s Windsor Castle Maitland Cup last night.

Master Catch had performed admirably in the recent Inter Dominion series including a credible fourth behind Don Hugo in the final round of Heats.

But there was no such company in last night’s event and the heavily backed Master Catch was confidently driven by Seaton Grima who whizzed the nine year old around the field after settling and then running straight to the front.

DadnDave who was well supported into second favourite had little luck caught racing outside the leader with Ashark behind the leader.

But into the back straight Grima set Master Catch alight and he bounded away to run his rivals ragged. In the end he had 25 metres to spare over Dadndave with Didshedoit coming in third. Over the staying trip of 2422 metres Master Catch recorded a new track record with his mile rate of 1.56.5 easily surpassing the previous record held by Boyzhavtime of 1.58.3.

MASTER CATCH REPLAY

The nine year old has been a wonderful performer for his trainer local identity Lisa McDonald who bred the gelding and also owns him. He’s now won 26 races in 147 starts for over quarter of million dollars in stake money.

Over his career Master Catch has won a number of country cups including at Tamworth, Armidale and Narrabri. Last year he finished 5^th in the Maitland Cup but this time he went one better in most impressive circumstances.

Lisa McDonald has Master Catch firing and he should be considered in similar races although he’s likely to strike stronger company than what he encountered last night.

by Tony Milanese, for Harnesslink