FRANK Barone is in danger of breaking one of his golden rules of harness racehorse ownership.
As a buyer and seller of standardbreds, the Mallee farmer’s advice as a syndicate manager to fellow owners is to not get too emotionally involved with their horses.
This is largely to protect against the disappointment of an under-performing horse who might have to be offloaded.
However, Barone and five of his mates have completely fallen for a son of Art Major, for which they paid a bargain-basement price about three years ago, to get the horse floated across the Tasman.
It’s little wonder, too, as the north-west Victorians’ float-fee investment of $12,500, plus other minor costs on arrival to secure a half-share (the breeder, Tom Kilkelly, kept the other half share) has turned into nearly $250,000 in Major Meister’s stakes earnings.
The group of six salt-of-the-earth blokes, most of whom make their living out of growing fruit and veggies in the fertile soils from Mildura to Tooleybuc, are on the ride of their lives as their six-year-old gelding becomes the newest star in Australian harness racing.
Since early last month, Major Meister – who has won 14 of his 58 starts – has gone from a competitive pacer in metropolitan races to winning in elite Australasian company.
A big turning point came three months ago when he was transferred from the stables of an ill Adam Kelly to Jason Grimson, who the owners describe as a “Horse Whisperer” with a “gentle, caring touch”.
Major Meister backed up his win in the Group 1 Cranbourne Cup with an against-all-odds triumph in the Bendigo Cup, where he was nearly knocked out of the race in the last lap before unleashing a scintillating turn of hoof to round up the top field.
It earned him the nickname of “The Mildura Missile” in the tradition of country towns taking ownership of an absolute top-line horse.
Former Miracle Mile winner Smooth Satin was a notable example of this two decades ago, when he was nicknamed “The Bathurst Bullet”.
The Missile faces his toughest test against a red-hot field of pacers in the Group 1 $150,000 Ballarat Cup over the gruelling 2710m trip on Saturday night.
It is a stepping stone to potentially even greater riches for the owners.
They, along with Grimson, are targeting next month’s Group 1 $500,000 A.G Hunter Cup and the $1 million Miracle Mile at Grimson’s home track of Menangle a month later.
There is even speculation the Missile could be a starter in a rich new race across the ditch in mid-April.
Similar to The Everest gallops race in Sydney, the $1 million The Race by Grins in New Zealand is a slot race where 10 slots are sold for holders to secure a spot in the race for three years.
The slot holders then liaise with owners and trainers to fill their slots with independent deals done on the distribution of any prizemoney won.
This is all dreamland for a group of knockabout country Victoria blokes who have each had their fair share of quality standardbreds over the past decade or so, but nothing quite like Major Meister.
There’s still plenty to play out in the horse’s story, but it’s already fairytale stuff.
TO SELL OR NOT?
MANAGING owner Frank Barone believes Major Meister is now worth at least $200,000.
There is a good opportunity for the Cardross blockie and his fellow owners to cash in on the meteoric rise of “The Mildura Missile”.
But, in casino parlance, they are going to keep their chips on the table.
“We don’t want to sell this horse. We’re having too much fun,” Barone said.
As the money man of the group, Barone controls the “comings and goings” of the horse’s success.
It prompted some great banter during an interview at his property this week with four of the other owners, including Tooleybuc stone-fruit grower Enzo Mazzarella, who has been in horse-racing ownership groups with Barone for 12 years.
The only absentee of the ownership group was their Melbourne-based mate, Jon Canestra.
“The boys have got no idea what comes and goes,” Barone said with a laugh.
“All the money comes to me.”
Fellow owner Greg Argiro chimed in: “Frank is putting new floors in his house, and I think that’s courtesy of Major Meister.”
Another owner, Ross Weightman, then innocently asked, “Do we have any money left, Frank?”
Barone continued stirring his mates, saying: “I did tell them that my book fees to manage the horse went up when I was on holiday.”
On a serious note, the guys are looking to reinvest much of the winnings from Major Meister in better horses, ideally sired by Art Major.
EARLY DAYS
FRANK Barone has been buying horses from Kiwi breeder Tom Kilkelly for the past two decades.
Sometimes they race horses together, sometimes not.
Barone this week reflected on how the deal was struck to buy Major Meister three years ago.
“We had been looking at him for about 18 months and I offered Tom $40,000 for him but he knocked me back the first time. He said, ‘Nah, I’m getting sick of selling you horses because every time it turns out to be really good’,” he said.
“Eventually he said, ‘I’ll send this one across and race him with you’.”
Barone declined to reveal specific numbers of what he paid for a half share in Major Meister, but it’s somewhere between $12,500 and $30,000.
Whatever that exact initial outlay was, it’s paid hefty dividends as the six-year-old gelding has his hoof on the till in elite company.
Barone recalled how Tooleybuc blockie Mazzarella fortuitously got involved in harness racehorse ownership with him.
“This is what happened with Enzo. He rang me up and he said, ‘I want to get a share in a horse’,” Barone said.
“He gave me one pallet of nectarines. For one pallet of nectarines, he got in a horse that won 80 races.”
THE GREAT DEBATE
MAJOR Meister has the potential to be a superstar of Australasian harness racing.
However, one of the owners, Greg Archiro, is still reluctant to call him the “best” horse he’s ever owned over the past decade.
“On potential, he is. But we’ve had a couple of other real good ones,” he said.
“Magical Marn was a top sit-sprint horse for us, but unfortunately he hurt himself.
“We also had Outrageous El, who won a derby as a three-year-old in 2014.”
Barone said Major Meister topped his list as he recounted other champions he’d owned.
“We’ve had some good metro horses over the years, but Major Meister’s the best at the moment,” he said.
“We got another Art Major off Tom, and that was with Enzo and Greg. The horse was called My Bella Starr, who won the Victorian Sires’ Stakes (in 2014),” he said.
Mazzarella agreed with Barone, saying “he has to be we’ve had so far.”
For fellow owner Ross Weightman, the quietly spoken brother of former Richmond footballer Dale “Flea” Weightman, it’s “completely surreal owning a horse as good as this one”.
“It’s just a dream. We’re in a bit of shock over what’s happening, but it’s really exciting for us all,” he said.
Archiro then had the guys laughing again as he reflected on the horse’s new-found stardom after a relatively slow start to his racing career.
“We watch the races so many times over, it really is dreamland stuff,” he said.
“Frank’s put us into plenty of camels over the years, so it’s about time.”
