Jason scores in love stakes

WHEN Tasmanian jockey Jason Maskiell decided to make a trip to the Northern Territory last month to compete at the lengthy Darwin Cup Carnival, he had a focus on more than just riding winners.

Accompanying him on the six-week sojourn was his girlfriend, Candice Green, and it was always Maskiell’s intention to propose to her while in the Top End.

The plan was to pop the question on the way to a racing function, which involved a casual stroll down the main street to the venue.

Halfway, Maskiell would drop to one knee, take the ring from his pocket and propose.

Once he heard the desired answer, they would embrace and then walk to the other side of the main street to board a horse-drawn carriage and make their way to the function.

Green, 29, was surprised at the length to which her boyfriend had gone to extract the three-letter word he so desperately wanted to hear.

“Jason had joked about it a few times so, at first, I wasn’t sure if he was just kidding,” Green said.

“But, all of a sudden, I re- alised he was serious, although I left him kneeling there in front of me for about 30 seconds before I said yes.”

Maskiell, 29, said he had spent more than a month planning the proposal but he was amazed that Green didn’t respond as soon as he popped the question.

“That 30 seconds she took to say yes felt like an hour,” he said.

“I just stayed there persevering and smiling while holding the ring but I can still remember the feeling inside when she said yes.

“What I had planned in my head actually turned out 10 times better.”

The NT media had been made aware of Maskiell’s plan and when the couple arrived at the function, they were swamped by photographers and television cameras.

“I thought it might get a grab on a sport page but I had no idea it would make the front page the next day.”

Maskiell has spent the last year making a comeback to riding after spending almost five years in the racing wilderness fighting a battle to rid himself of an addiction to the drug ice.

How he became addicted and the hardship he endured has been well documented and throughout his recovery Green has been by his side, helping him find his way back to normality.

His recovery is continuing but his riding ability has never been questioned and now he is trying to make his way back to Melbourne where he made such a huge impact while still an apprentice.

He was Victoria’s leading apprentice and he was in the top 10 on the jockeys’ premiership table for two years before going off the rails.

“The trip to the Northern Territory was also a test for me because I wanted to see how I managed being away from my family which is a very safe environment and mentally I coped with it really well,” Maskiell said.

“I still had a good support group around me and mostly that was Candice.

“My next plan is to return to riding full-time in Victoria.”

Maskiell and Green have known each other since they were toddlers as both were raised at Longford and attended Longford Primary School.

“During our school years, I always thought Jason was cute but it wasn’t until just over a year ago that we became a couple,” Green said.

Maskiell returns to riding in Victoria tomorrow where he will partner Tasmanian threeyear-old Tiesto in a benchmark 70 handicap at Sandown.

Tiesto, which won last season’s $150,000 Gold Sovereign Stakes in Launceston, is owned by Maskiell’s mother Linda and other family members including his grandfather Ken Hanson and aunty Tanya Hanson who trained the horse in Tasmania last season.

Tiesto is now prepared in Victoria by Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra.