2023 Bendigo Cup, Maori Mile & Jason Grimson

[Messenger]

Very interesting to hear the interview with one of MM's owners and the way that he sang Jason Grimson's praises as a Horseman. He is only 29 by the way
Are some people (myself included) off the mark in finding his success/turnaround stories hard to believe?
Although I still stand by post 17

Is he superior to the recognized horsemen that had his charges before him

[Messenger]

The win by Major Meister was ridiculously good. He comes so wide after making contact with the retiring Rock N Roll Doo and still wins while Sicario found another leg
Maybe the Stewart/Tonkin stable are thinking of the US to avoid Jason Grimson!

Looking at it again
There is no doubt MM's was a fantastic win after losing his momentum when he ran into the back of Doo
Maybe Sicario's was not that special, even if a big improvement for him
The reason I say this is that the last half was run in about 59 secs - when Code Bailey set the record 3yrs ago, they came home in 55

https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...20#BNC03012001

[Showgrounds]

No, I am not Nostradamus but I stand by every word I wrote in posts 4 and 11 of this thread.

Grimson's quinella suggests every other trainer in the game is a mug. While that is only a suggestion it confirms those in charge of enforcing "integrity" in harness racing are miles off the pace, just jogging along quietly pinging trainers whose horse may have of spent a few days munching on a treated pine or creosote soaked fence post. The scale of the problem has been blatantly exposed for all to see in the Bendigo Cup.

At least the stewards both pre-race and post-race swabbed the winner and runner up. They should have done more, like a surprise stable inspection and swabs earlier in the day to, at least, rattle the cage. And I would have sent a couple of stewards and a vet home with the horses for the night.

I've written enough about good old Sicario, let's look at the winner. It's form since leaving Adam Kelly on 5 November is 1st at Ballarat in 1:52.9 by 12.6 metres on 26 November (21 days later), 1st in the Crabourne Cup by 8.7 metres in 1:56.7 on 17 December (another 21 days later) and the Bendigo Cup - another 21 days later! These are facts, not conjecture, and tie in precisely with PP's protestations and prognosises over the past year and a half. Remember, if you follow his work, the key is 21 days.

Just a coincidence? I'll give you the tip, I've been involved and followed the game closely for 52 years and I have never seen a coincidence like it. If you are smart enough to read what I have written, you are intelligent enough to draw your own conclusion. I haven't bet on the horses for years but I bet your conclusion is the same as mine.

As for Rock N Roll Don't I am looking foward to reading an interview with Michael Stanley that he is setting his horse The Paddock by Frowns.

[Showgrounds]

An apology and best wishes to Michael Stanley. I have just learned that RRD may have choked down. As a result of the horse being pulled up the eventual race winner ran into the back of the cart and struck Mick hard in the back. I believe he was transferred to hospital after the race. I hope all is well and it is just bruising, but it would be similar to being hit by a car. Good luck Mick, wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Messenger]

I watched TrotsVision to the end despite the delay before the last but I did not catch the final sentence from Michelle Phillips when interviewed by JB
PP is reporting that she said "All you taught me was how to speak shit"
Can anybody verify that that is what she said LOL

[Messenger]

Very interesting to hear the interview with one of MM's owners and the way that he sang Jason Grimson's praises as a Horseman. He is only 29 by the way
Are some people (myself included) off the mark in finding his success/turnaround stories hard to believe?
Although I still stand by post 17

Is he superior to the recognized horsemen that had his charges before him

Here are part-owner Jon Canestra's actual words

Part-owner Jon Canestra said he long felt Major Meister had the ability to reach his current heights.

“In the early days we did. We knew we had something,” he said.

“We then had to geld him to try and see if we could get that more out of him, and he just lost his way.”

Canestra also heaped praise on Grimson, who continues to amaze with his record of improving tried horses.

“His passion for horses and his love for horses is unbelievable. How he went to his feet, how he fed him, how he trained him completely different.

“I remember when he won at Yarra Glen, he had this action that was just like cutting daisies. We saw it again at Cranbourne two weeks ago and we saw it again tonight.

“He’s living up to the potential we thought he had.”

https://www.thetrots.com.au/news/art...r-major-prize/

[Messenger]

Jason Grimson has always had a good strike rate - even when he was 22yo
I thought I once heard a commentator say that he went off and did concreting for 3yrs but looking at his stats, if this was so, you would think it had to be when he was a kid

(I am making an addition to the title of this thread so that we can find the discussion in the future)

[Messenger]

A highly relevant question asked is: Why did Boncel Benjamin go back to being a plodder when he left the stable - didn't his connections see the magic being performed/weren't they told what tweeks worked?

[Messenger]

Is he really 29yo?

Just Who Is Jason Grimson?

is a must read

https://harnesslink.com/australia/ju...jason-grimson/

Dont Think Twice was a 15/16 season 2yo, Grimson's first year of training and when he would have been 22yo

He did 5yrs of concreting in Canberra away from horses so that must have been when he was a 16-20yo at the latest as he worked for other trainers in the Riverina when he gave concreting away then he had a year with Jarrod Alchin in Sydney before going out on his own

“He (Grimson) was just a natural horseman. You could see it straight away and people talked about it who’d worked with him (in the Riverina),” Alchin said.

Amazing statement when you think how little time he had with horses (other than as a pre-teen) - this is starting to sound like the makings of a screenplay

Dont Think Twice was his first horse - a Gp1 - Grimson must have shown something for the owners to give her to him, especially a well bred 2yo

https://www.harness.org.au/racing/ho...horseId=787788

Here is a John Tapp article on Jason's partner (still?) Brooke Wilkins, who if you opened the Dont Think Twice link you would see was the trainer of the horse for a while

https://www.johntapp.racing/trots/20...she-never-knew

There would obviously be a lot of knowledge coming from her too

[Messenger]

I am doubting that Brooke Wilkins is still Jason's partner
She trains out of Cardigan and had Celestial Fragrance in R2 last night

https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fi...23#BNM07012306