12 December 2022 | HRNSW MEDIA | MICHAEL DUMESNY
NEW South Wales pacer I Cast No Shadow upstaged his more-fancied Victorian opponents to score an emphatic win in the $500,000 SENTrack Inter Dominion Grand Final at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night.
The win gave Menangle trainer Jason Grimson back-to-back victories in the rich series after he won the race in sensational circumstances in 2021.
Boncel Benjamin went past the post in second place behind Expensive Ego last year but claimed the race on protest after copping interference in the run home.
But there were no dramas on Saturday when I Cast No Shadow was given the perfect trip by Sydney’s ace reinsman Cameron Hart.
After beginning fast from gate one, Hart opted to take the sit on race favourite Act Now, which was rated perfectly by Jodi Quinlan, cruising through the first half of the last mile in 58.6 seconds.
Quinlan then stoked things up with a 26.4s third quarter, which played right into the hands of I Cast No Shadow and Hart, who were lurking behind, sweating on the sprint lane.
And when the run came the Grimson trained six-year-old dashed past the leader to race clear and score by almost three metres.
Rank outsider Torrid Saint (125-1) followed through along the sprint lane to finish second, just ahead of Act Now, who was gallant in defeat.
Grimson was able to soak up the atmosphere with no dramas this time around and he has certainly come of age as a seriously talented conditioner of standardbreds.
For Hart, it was the icing on the cake as he has almost done it all in the sport and the win saw him surpass $8 million in earnings as a reinsman – at the ripe old age of 23.
“This is honestly unreal,” said Hart.
“All your life you dream of winning these big races, and to finally do it is just great.
“Grimmo [Grimson] is one of my best mates and we have had so much success together.
“Now we have won one of the biggest races, if not the biggest in Australasia together.
“Jason is just a master trainer, he had this horse spot-on for this race and it all just went to plan perfectly.
“We had to do it the hard way to make the final and just scraped in.
“But after drawing so well I knew we were a great hope.”
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