Tim Clark’s pestering of Gai Waterhouse has paid off after the jockey guided Master Ash to victory in the Group Three Up And Coming Stakes at Randwick
Master Ash sat handy until pouncing in the straight to pull one length clear of frontrunner Danawi and Smart Elissim in the 1300m Group Three race.
Clark said he had been bugging Waterhouse for the chance to ride Master Ash since an autumn trackwork session.
“He gave me a great feel and from that day I pestered Gai and Adrian to ride him,” Clark said.
“He has improved so much in the past five weeks.”
“On Tuesday morning, he felt unbelievable. I was very confident he would run a bold race.”
Co-trainer Adrian Bott is so impressed by the three-year-old’s progress, a Group One Golden Rose start is in his sights.
“We’d love to get him to a top-class race,” Bott said.
Bott said Master Ash had always been held in high regard but his ability to sit one back, one off the fence added another string to his bow.
“(The) difficult thing with horses in their first racing preparation is keeping them in that form and he’s matured in the last month, last six weeks physically and mentally and we saw that in the way he raced,” he said.
“Now that he is a more mature horse, he’s able to do those sort of things.
“He’s really switched on and that was the difference in the last month.”
The victory was Waterhouse’s fifth in the race since 2001 but her first with Bott.
