A treble delight for gun Maskiell

STAR Tasmanian jockey Jason Maskiell proved he belonged in the Territory’s biggest races, after riding a winning treble at Fannie Bay yesterday.

The 27-year-old has had a well-publicised battle with the methamphetamine ice, but has always shown the courage to talk about it.

He showed courage again on Darwin’s dirt track yesterday. Maskiell booted home Needy Rocket (for David Bates in the $25,000 SIGNCITY Handicap 1100m), Wicked Promise (Phil Cole in the $25,000 NT News Handicap 1600m) and Turf Man (John Hickmott in the $135,000 Ladbrokes NT Derby 2000m).

“It (riding three winners) was super. Everyone knows my story, so it was good to come up here and prove I could do it in a different state,” Maskiell said.

“I’ll ride in the Darwin Cup, then I’ll see what’s in Melbourne for the Spring Carnival, or go to Broome.”

Maskiell rode three straight winners and in his mind the first two – Needy Rocket and Wicked Promise – were never in doubt.

“The first win on the grey horse – I ride him in work every day,” he said.

“We thought he’d win and he did. He hit the line well.

“The second horse went straight to the front.”

If Maskiell thought the first two winners of his hat-trick were never in doubt, he almost wrote a new definition for “convincing win” in his third.

That was by a whopping 10 lengths on John Hickmott’s three-year-old Turf Man in the feature race of the day, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“Turf Man brained them. They (the Hickmotts) would be silly if they didn’t send him to the Cup,” Maskiell said.

Maskiell is loving his time in Darwin and said: “I’ll definitely be back next year.”