Big weekend for some of NSW's best

19 December 2022

Last Saturday proved to be a fruitful night in the gig for some of the state’s brightest stars landing multiple winners along the eastern seaboard.

While inform reinsman Josh Gallagher stole the show once again at Newcastle by driving four winners, Blake Hughes drove a winner and a dead heat at the International Paceway.

At Tabcorp Park Menangle both Seaton Grima and Jack Trainor secured driving doubles, for Jack the achievement securing the former New Zealander the Sydney Metropolitan Premiership, narrowly over Cameron Hart.

With 11 days remaining Hart has clearly secured the State Driver’s Premiership with an unassailable lead and an impressive 183 winners.

Hart again combined with Sydney trainer Jason Grimson to capture a second Group 1 victory in Victoria on Saturday night when Major Meister led throughout to take out the $100,000 Cranbourne Cup.

Both horsemen have recorded six Group 1 wins this season and a week earlier, the pair won Australasia’s premier event, the Inter Dominion Grand Final with I Cast No Shadow.

Despite still being quite young, many a good judge in the industry believe that Hart is shaping as one of the all-time greats in the gig.

It was Major Meister’s first attempt at top level racing on Saturday night, but both Grimson and Hart had no doubt the horse would rise to the occasion.

And after enjoying a cosy run through the first part of the race, the task for his rivals was far too great to run him down with the gelding pacing the last half in a sizzling 55.2 seconds.

“Both Jase and I were quietly confident that he would take the step up,” said Hart.

“We got a dream run on the front end and he extended away with ease really.

“The guess the most impressive part of his performance was his last half. He just felt like a jet over that last 800 metres and ran away from a tidy field,”

Never one to take things easy, Hart will be back in action closer to home at Goulburn this afternoon where he has five drives on a nine race program.

He will be looking for early success in the opening event when he will partner the favourite, Jungle Spider in the square gaiter’s event.

Drawn in gate two, Jungle Spider should be prominent from the outset and then take some beating.