Cass Haese WA trainer

Hi all,
My name is Kylie and I am looking for anyone who knew Cass Haese, the WA pacing trainer. She was my Grandmother, and although I spent my child hood at the trots and on her farm, I never bothered to take note of her work and achievements. I am interested in finding out how the trotting world perceived her, her noteworthy achievements as a trainer/breeder/owner. Anything of particular interest surrounding her career. I know very little, and because her and my grandfather have both passed away it is difficult for me to find any information about this.

Was she considered successful? Did she train any horses that broke records or does she hold any records to this day? Was she respected? Was she inspirational? Are female trainers rare? And if so, what made her break into a male dominated field do you think?

Thanks in advance, any piece of information small or detailed or will be greatly appreciated. I feel like the horse/trotting world was not known by us, her family, and it is a huge part of her and her life that is missing without knowing it about her.

Kind regards,
Kylie

Attachment 847Attachment 846The Perth Turf Talk Harness forum will have lots of comments for you no doubt - I suggest you go over there and make a post as they'll remember everything you could possibly want to know about her horses, but to jot down some quick thoughts, Cass was very successful with many horses she bred. She had some fantastic broodmares who threw great ones for many generations. You'll see from my comments below that my family is a HUGE fan of the horse bloodlines she had and we've owned and bred with a lot of them.

Travis Arania was a stand out, the dam of Alfa Dyna , Scanio and Bold Ruler (see below). She didn't breed her but she bred with her:

Alfa Dyna: Mare. 38 starts, 11 wins, 11 places. 1.59 $95,147 (born 1988). A lot of money back in those days! Won the WA Oaks and 4th in the Gold Nugget to Valley Champ. She is one my Mum bought off Cass when Cass got out of horses.

Bold Ruler: 116 starts, 12 wins, 34 places. $62k


Scanio: 114 starts, 22 wins, 29 places and $208,495 (born 1990). Raced in Perth a lot in the big races, never winning or placing but still AMAZING to have a horse in them - Pacing Cup to Our Sir Vancelot, Fremantle Cup to Havago and again to Golden Gears, Gold Nugget to Slick Vance. He won the Bunbury Cup in 95 and Sires Final too, as well as a Harvey Cup I believe.

Alfa Courageous: Cass must have sold/given her away as her foals show other people as their breeders but she was the dam of:
Roadless Travelled: 94 starts, 22 wins, 26 places $183k and Courageous Ned: 177 starts, 21 wins, 59 starts. The fact multi generations were good is indication that the bloodlines she bred were good quality back then.

She bred Alfa Freeway (born 1981): 82 starts, 23 wins, 20 places ($102k). Sadly harness.org.au doesn't have any of her race details but I recall from the Yearling Sale catalogues way back that Freeway won a couple big races. $102k back in the 80s was HUGE for a mare. She was the dam of Eliza (see below).

Go to this site: http://www.harness.org.au/ausbreed/r...on=main.search and type in the horses name you want to look at and you can look at the dams and follow how many she bred and their form. I've attached a screenshot.

My mum and her had a good friendship and when Cass got out of horses, we bought a few of her broodmares including Eliza named after Cass' mum I believe ( bred Eliza Grace and Jasper Freeway from Eliza the horse. Both were great horses, Grace having some niggles but tough as nails and Jasper who broke down as a 3 yo and then again as a 6yo).

We used to love how her horses always had name themes: Scanio, Alfa Triumph, Alfa Turbo (after a truck/car theme), the Alfa line. I'm pretty sure she had another good male horse but I can't remember it

Here's an article. She was at the time the only woman to train a WA Oaks winner. http://www.harnesslink.com/News/WA-H...ner-Cass-Haese

We remember Cass being a really lovely lady. I'll ask my Mum if she has anything to add.

Mum knew Cass' sister a long time ago. We bought a close relation to a lot of the ones Cass had, Danni Hook, from a stud and so Mum asked Cass at the trots on the day Danni died about the bloodline. They chatted for a while and after that we always said hi. Cass and her other sister came and stayed one time.

When your granddad was sick, they wanted a home for Alfa Dyna and we said we'd look after her and then we bought Dynas foal also to give it a home.

Because Scanio and Alfa Freeway were in a couple of the big races, their replays were recorded onto highlight videos narrated by John Hunt back in the day: Seasons Of Glory. He released one every year so youd have to know which years of the videos to look out for. You might be able to snatch one off eBay if you were lucky.

Mum said Cass was very hardworking and passionate and hated cruelty. :)

I think that's all we've got for now. Know that Scanio is likely one of the top 75 WA bred horses of all time so to have bred him speaks volumes of your grandparents. Itd be amazing for you to spend some time in a stable and see what she did and why she loved the sport. Horses really are amazing, as anyone on this forum will testify

I hope this helps, but as I said (and I don't mean to direct people away from THIS forum) but the guys over at Perthturftalk harness forum reeeeally know their WA harness horse stuff and will have more stories for you

Great work KTQ and a very interesting read

Doesn't that just indicate how small the world is and how small yet closely knit the harness racing family is.
I read post one and having read similar posts previously where no replies were forthcoming Kylie has hit the jackpot with what appears to be a close family relationship going back some years.
This epitomises the purpose of the forum.
Congratulations to you both Kylie and Katie. A great read too on the horses side of it.

Wow this is amazing! Thank you so much.

Just a follow up for the forum members, the other male horse I couldn't remember is Motobuchi (1992). His record: 126 starts 19 wins. 29 places. $142k. He raced at GP on a Friday every week. Actually beat Haveago (who beat Cass' other horse Scanio in the Freo Cup) at GP one Friday.


I found a Sales Catalogue online and here is Alfa Freeway's record (I pasted this to the other forum I mentioned so just copy/pasting here):

"ALFA FREEWAY (M) p,2,2:01; 1:57.9 (Captain Hook USA). 23 wins, 2 thru 5, 15 at Perth; $102,636. At 2, winner WA Triple Crown. At 3, winner WA Country Derby Gr.3, Bunbury Bracelet, consolation WA Derby, heat WA Oaks, second in SW Oaks. At 4, winner WA Ladyship Gr.3; second in Harvey 4YO Classic, WA Empress, etc. As aged, winner WA Breeders S. Gr.3 , Darkan Cup; second in WA Mares Sprint. Dam of ELIZA(M) p,1:58; grandam of JASPER FREEWAY p,1:56.3 ($78,611), ELIZA GRACE (M) p,1:55.7 ($61,588).

My parents bought Eliza off Cass. She was such a lovely horse. Black and shiny. Jasper Freeway was brilliant but broke down twice. Eliza Grace was a giant mare and she knew it (I'd say around 17hh. I remember looking UP at her whither. With normal horses I could kind of see over their back but with her, it was like standing next to a basketballer - she used to drag me around the yard. Had to paddock work her because stables were too small for her. Would always eat a mouthful of food. Have a mouthful of water. Mouthful of food. Mouthful of water and would absolutely fill her water bucket with food. Got driven terribly a couple times at GP by a cowboy driver who decided to ignore directions - would have finished her career with at least 1 more GP win if not for that fool. Strong but had small niggles. Such a brilliant bloodline. Cass was great. What a career she had - what a wonderful and successful woman."


I learned from the other forum why the prefix "Alfa": "she trained at Lake Clifton from memory....a major lucerne growing area or as the Americans call it...Alfalfa.....hence the prefix Alfa in the names of some of her horses."


Wouldn't it be great if we could have a weekly post about a successful underdog and everyone could chime in with their memories of that trainer and his horses? Harness.org.au should have a section on this - to remember these people and their successes. From a teenager, my Dad worked for a local trainer named Johnny Marsden and learned all he could off him about training. To this day, Dad still says 'Johnny used to always say...' I'd love to know all about Johnny Marsden's horses but that information is quickly slipping away.

Such an informative and enjoyable discussion..well done.

Game Oro, owned by Roma Pocock and trained in Bendigo Vic. by her late father Ken Pocock is a very good member of this family, being by Laverne Hanover, from Oro Nelson.

Game Oro won 29 races from 1984 to 1989 including two Kilmore Cups, when it was a very prestigious race as well as two Shepparton Gold Cups.

Classic Races won by Game Oro:

1984 Vic Nyah Pacing Cup
1985 Vic Kilmore Cup
1985 Vic Shepparton Gold Cup
1985-3 Inter Dominion Pacing Heat (R2) Moonee Valley
1986 Vic Lyn White FFA Moonee Valley
1986 Qld Albion Park Free For All AP
1986 Vic Shepparton Gold Cup Shepparton
1986 Vic Kilmore Cup Kilmore
1986 Vic VHRSC (MHRC) Classic MV

And I was silly enough to back Game Oro in the 1985 Inter final, thinking his big finishing burst could overpower Preux Chevalier. Idiot! I was just flicking through the racebook this afternoon.

Game Oro was a seriously good horse, though. Further proof that some old WA families, as obscure as they may be in the eastern states, continue to produce good horses.