Racecaller David Fowler summed up the performance by MASAFF (IRE) on Wednesday at Ipswich when he stated “Masaff looks to be going well but there’s nowhere to go” as the field straightened in the 1,710 metres Class 1 plate. “Byrne’s [jockey Jim Byrne] looking for runs … he’s going back to the inside in desperation … all of a sudden here’s Masaff … Masaff on the inside raced up hit the lead … and it’s going to be an easy one … raced away and won easily Masaff … the class runner.”

The gelding had been racing in good quality Saturday metropolitan races in Victoria and more than once had performed well however his inability to relax in his races had been his “undoing” on a couple of occasions. His Queensland preparation was planned to allow MASAFF (IRE) to learn to settle in his races and to get much needed confidence back again as he’d been a long time away from the Winners Circle.

The Irish import was originally trained by renowned Irish trainer Dermot Weld who felt that the gelding would be well placed here in Australia and now that MASAFF (IRE) has won again hopefully his confidence can continue to build in coming months to allow him to again race at a higher level. That’s certainly Chris’ plan this preparation.

Congratulations to the winning MASAFF (IRE) connections including our Star owners Paramount Racing (Manager: Kathryn Wood), Chris Olliver, Boeara Holdings (Manager: Denise Dunphy), David Henderson, Raelene Glasgow, Terri Johnston, Wayne Haylen.