A major journey

Gelding Major Thomas (Art Major) will line up on Saturday (Mar. 11) at the Northern Southland Trotting Club – a bit of a surprise considering the twists and turns his attempts at a harness racing career have taken.

The four year old gelding has been through as many stables as a farrier on a quiet day. He started with Steve and Amanda Telfer before Ray Green and Andrew Drake had a turn. Then Derek Balle tried before he came south to Tyler Dewe.

From sixteen starts he’s recorded just one third. 

So why is he racing in Southland premiership winner Nathan Williamson’s colours on Saturday?

“He’d finished his racing career and I just picked him up as a galloping pacemaker to train in front of the young ones. I’ve got Georgia Goodman working for me and she’s been driving at the workouts so was looking for something to drive. I took the horse to the workouts the other day and he surprised us all. We hadn’t had the hopples on him before his run. He went really well so we decided to throw him in and hopefully he can go a good race. It’ll be interesting to see how he equips himself,” Williamson said.

In his workout for Williamson at Wyndham on Saturday, Major Thomas in the hands of Goodman came with a good run down the middle of the track to score by half a length.

There’s nothing wrong with his breeding, with his mother Ideal Alice (American Ideal) winning twenty races in Australia including the Group One Westral Mares Classic at Gloucester Park.

So the journey continues For Major Thomas on Saturday and race two will determine whether he races again or goes back to his day job, educating the young ones.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink