Promising pacer gives Wayne first training win

Passionate Victorian harness racing trainer Wayne Ross has chalked up his first training win with an exciting pacer destined for bigger things.

Ross, of Cobden, in the State’s south-west, combined with in-form reinswoman Jackie Barker to take out the Club Membership Online Pace at Terang (Dec 30) with bay gelding Metro Assassin (Rocknroll Hanover).

It was the five-year-old’s third win from just four race starts – on the other occasion he ran an unlucky second at Charlton after he shied and galloped in the latter stages.

“One of my mates David Lewis had the horse up until his latest win. David did a lot of the pre-training work and has always liked him,” Ross said.

Prior to training Metro Assassin to a win, Ross was the trainer of Fiery Sunset, who had five placings from 16 starts,

He said Metro Assassin was purchased from the Nutrien yearling sales, and the ownership group had recently knocked back a “nice five figure offer”.

“I race him with my brother Jimmy and a close friend Warren Hadley. The three of us went to the same high school back home in New Zealand and played cricket together,” he said.

“Jimmy is still over there but I moved to Australia 15 years ago, and Warren’s been out here for a fair while.”

Ross said he was keen to see what the pacer known around the stables as “Moe” was capable of, as he continued to develop.

“He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but he has heaps of bottom. I think there’s a lot of improvement to come. He’s a cruisy type and nothing seems to faze him much, but Jackie, who does a real good job, reckons he may be still lacking a bit of confidence,” he said.

“I was a little surprised he blew up after his latest win at Terang. He only does fastwork once a week, but he gets a lot of swimming and jogging. I’m aiming to have a run at Hamilton next Sunday (Jan 12) and probably look at the Ararat Cup after that.”

Ross said it was a thrill to see his new colors carried in his maiden victory.

“My late father was a big fan of Ford cars, so the colors are Ford blue with a dark silver star and black sleeves which is the Kiwi side of it. Dad wasn’t involved in harness racing, but my mother’s side of the family trained horses.”

Ross prepares Metro Assassin at the property of well-known trainer-driver Mattie Craven.

“I work for him and thoroughly enjoy it. There’s about five horses I own or or share with brother Jimmy and Warren, including shares in Bettor Isolate, Young Bluey and (retired) Credit Master, who won my first group one,” Ross said.

“I did dairy farming for 33 years and next month is three years since we sold all our cows and leased out the farm. But some habits are hard to break, and I still wake up at 5am each day! I think you have to do the best by the horses, and it’s no different to when we had the cows – if you don’t look after them, you don’t get any milk!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink