By Adam Hamilton
There is just no stopping the Jason Grimson juggernaut.
Just a week after capturing his second successive Inter Dominion pacing final, Grimson snared the $100,000 Group 1 Cranbourne Cup with recent stable addition Major Meister.
And he thinks there are even bigger wins in store for the five-year-old.
Major Meister found the front cheaply and won as he liked by 8.7m, leaving two of Australia’s best pacers in his wake in Mach Dan (second) and Rock N Roll Doo (third).
It was just his second start for Grimson after joining his stable from Adam Kelly a few weeks before winning on Inter Dominion opening night in a support race at Ballarat on November 26.
“I really liked him as soon as I got him,” Grimson said. “We thought he’d just win at Ballarat and had actually picked out this race (Cranbourne Cup) even before we took him to Ballarat.
“He’s very fast and even though he’s won over a longer distance tonight, I think he’ll be a good Miracle Mile horse.”
Major Meister started his career in NZ’s South Island before joining Kelly’s stable in late 2020.
The son of Art Major had raced 55 times for 11 wins and 13 placings before moving to Grimson’s care.
Driver Cam Hart, who also teamed with Grimson to win last week’s Inter Dominion final with I Cast No Shadow, took the reins on Major Meister last night.
“He just gives you a great feel. He always had that under control,” he said.
Major Meister won by 8.7m in a 1min56.7sec mile rate for 2550m, just 0.6sec outside the track record. He ripped home in 55.2 and 28.3sec.
Grimson confirmed he was staying in Victoria with a small team until Hunter Cup time, paving the way for his stable stars Majestic Cruiser, I Cast No Shadow and Major Meister to tackle a string of upcoming major country cups like Bendigo, Shepparton, Ballarat and then the Hunter Cup.
“I Cast No Shadow just had a few days off and he’ll go towards the Hunter Cup. Majestic Cruiser will head the same way,” he said.
Mach Dan was superbly driven by Mark Pitt to land the one-one then save ground late for second.
Victoria Cup winner Rock N Roll Doo lost no admirers first-up from a short break when he came from outside the back row to sit parked and fought on well for third.
The Inter Dominion flavour extended to the Cranbourne Trotters’ Cup where Majestuoso simply outclassed his rivals in the $50,000 Group 1 feature.
Just a week after leading and being nabbed on the line by Just Believe in the Inter Dominion final, Majestuoso overcame a back row draw and sitting parked for the last 1000m to win.
He was the second leg of a winning treble for Kate and Andy Gath, the first of them coming with former Kiwi trotter Chinese Whisper.
The six-year-old was one of the real hard luck stories of the Inter Dominion trotting series and simply outclassed his moderate rivals to win as he liked last night.