 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1986
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Master Mood, Frank & Stephen Wong & the Williams family. |
A chance meeting in a Dunedin fruit shop 12 years ago came to an unbelievable conclusion when Master Mood romped away with the $275,000 Toyota NZ Cup. For it was there the Wong family first met the Williams family and sparked an association which led to their partnership in the pocket battleship from Pebbleton.
After seizing the initiative with a courageous front-running drive and streeting his Cup rivals, part-owner and trainer Kevin Williams told the NZHRW about the random rendezvous back in 1974.
"Dad (former trainer Laurie Williams) was campaigning a mare called Lily Chase down in Dunedin, and went into a fruit shop to buy some carrots for her. He got talking to the guy behind the counter, who was keen on harness racing and wanted to find out what horse he had. He said he'd always wanted to race a horse of his own and it went from there." The man behind the counter was Frank Wong, and the merger between the two families was born.
From humble beginnings - Kevin Williams and Frank Wong won a race with a smart pacer called Avenge later that year before unsoundness claimed his promising career - the partnership blossomed into a deep friendship which has been crowned with their success with Master Mood.
They bought his dam, the Lordship mare Moods, for a paltry $3000 in the late 1970's, and a mating with the then unheralded colonial sire Noodlum produced Master Mood in 1981. And with Kevin's wife Bonnie and Frank's son Stephen in on the action with quarter shares, they've had some great times: the first juvenile to break 2:00 in a race in Australasia, the winner of nine straight races and the Horse of the Year title last season and now his prestigious NZ Cup success. "It's every owners dream to win a New Zealand Cup, but I honestly thought he'd be a race short," an overcome Stephen Wong said. Frank Wong spontaneously expressed his delight by hugging Kevin Williams upon his return to the birdcage.
The race was a personal triumph for Williams, who defended his horse after several ordinary performances in Cup preludes, and maintained throughout he had the horsepower to win the gruelling two-miler. "Although his preparation lacked racing, it was a good preparation, and I thought he was as good or better than anything in the race. He's a great little stayer, he just grinds and grinds, and he's a horse that races really well in front." So when Williams found himself challenging for the lead two laps from home, he didn't hesitate. "He's that sort of horse - he's a mug drivers' horse in that can't drive him pretty. He loves doing it tough in front, rather than trailing in behind."
The future months for the compact little stallion look exciting, and lucrative races here and in Australia will give him the opportunity to exceed $500,000 in stakes. Master Mood's four length Cup win hoisted his lifetime earnings to more than $350,000, and he'll have the chance to add to that later in the Addington spring carnival before possibly winging to Sydney for a crack at the $A140,000 Miracle Mile on December 5. "A guy rang me from Sydney three weeks ago and made a tentative approach, and there's a reasonable possibility he may go," Williams said.
Master Mood already has a dazzling mile time on Australian soil to his credit - a 1:56 Inter-Dominion heat win in Brisbane earlier this year.
In winning the Cup Master Mood went within a tick of matching Steel Jaws 3200m race and national record. Aggressively driven he thundered over the extreme distance in 4:05.56 - little outside Steel Jaw's mark of 4:05.3.
Williams didn't premeditate any tactics for the Cup, but once he had Master Mood pacing kindly in front with 2400m to travel, he was determined no horse would get past. So when fearless Southland stayer Malaz and his trainer-driver ranged up in search of the lead at the bell, they were out of luck. "Hamish tried to talk me into giving the front away, but I was having none of that," Williams said. "Master Mood races really well in front and I didn't want to get stuck on the fence. He's a horse that has to be in front rolling along and he loves doing it tough in front rather than trailing in behind. It's a funny thing, but the Cup is nearly always won by a horse that is cherry-ripe on the day, the horse that's peaking."
Few punters who saw Master Mood's impressive Cup trial last Thursday - he sat back before moving off the fence a lap from home to face the breeze and drew clear in the stretch - took heed and the 1986 Harness Horse of the Year went to the post a 16-1 chance.
Williams had no qualms about forcing such a strong clip in front, despite the calibre of some of his rivals. "I felt, whether he'd won it or not, it was a race run true and everybody had a shot." But most of Master Mood's opposition fired blanks when the speed cracked on at the 800m peg, after an opening mile in 2:04.4 and 2400m in 3:08.2.
Freightman, a determined stayer with a reputation for never flinching, couldn't keep up in the trail. Neither could favoured northerner Placid Victor, who enjoyed a perfect trip three back on the outer but couldn't sprint when the speed came. And any horse futher back than midfield faced an insurmountable deficit as Master Mood tore into a 57.4 last 800m.
"There was no way I could have beaten Master Mood when he ran a half like that," Skipper Dale's trainer-driver Patrick O'Reilly Jnr said. The Cup favourite, who led out then took a trail three back on the fence, slipped off the rails when Placid Victor began to pace roughly around the final turn. And Skipper Dale stretched out gamely in the straight, running home strongly for third, just a long head from runner-up Luxury Liner.
"At the 400m I thought he might win it, but the other horse was just too good," Luxury Liner's handler Brent Mangos said. "He went a great race and tried hard all the way down the straight." Luxury Liner followed Malaz one out in fourth spot from the 2400m pole, made all the right moves but couldn't cover Master Mood's explosive acceleration in the stretch.
Apart from the winner, the eye-catching performance came from Malaz, a typically gutsy effort which Hunter described simply and succinctly: "he's got awesome courage and stands up like a soldier." Malaz sat on the leader's wheel two laps from home, attempted tp forge past Master Mood at the winning post with a round left, and was still fighting proudly down the stretch. At the post Malaz was less than a half-length from second, and his raw courage was a talking point with the huge crowd afterwards.
Freightman battled hard for fifth, but didn't seem to enjoy the race, and Spry Joker defied his odds of 70-1 with a solid sixth after making up several lengths in the straight.
Leading reinsman Maurice McKendry didn't recognise the Placid Victor he sat behind during the $275,000 Cup. "He didn't feel himself today, and he had to pick today to do it. When they quickened up front he was battling to come home." The handsome son of Vance Hanover landed the worst marble in tomorrow's $75,000 Benson & Hedges Free-For-All (2000m mobile), and regardless of how he performs he'll fly back to Auckland on the weekend for the $50,000 BASF Franklin Cup (3200m) on Saturday week.
Master Mood drew the outside of the front line in the Free-For-All, but Williams expects the rugged little entire to emulate his Cup form. If he should complete a double for the meeting, Master Mood will join such top pacers as Robalan, Lord Module, Hands Down, Armalight and Bonnie's Chance, all of which bagged the two classics in the same year.
Credit: Matt Conway writing in HR Weekly