Patience Personified: Russell Lees Gets His Win With Special Jack
Special Jack getting the narrow win in the last on the card at the Central Wheatbelt. Photo Credit- Photography by Jodie Hallows
“He bashes me around when I gear him up. I never stop worrying that he will do something stupid when he goes out, but then he goes onto the track and does me proud evert time he has raced.”
There aren’t many as passionate about his horses than Russell Lees, and on Sunday Special Jack made the long day worth it for breeder, owner, and trainer Russell Lees at the Central Wheatbelt, when the seven-year-old broke through for his first win at just his eighth start in a race.
The late bloomer made his official debut to racing at Northam on the 29th of January this year, and with just the one placing next to his name after running third at Wagin just two starts back, punters were confident that Sunday’s race was Special Jacks to win, with the race favourite starting at $1.90 odds in the last on the card.
With barrier one a scratching from the event, Special Jack moved down to the prime position, leading from start to finish over the 2130m and holding on for the win by a head in 2:05:3, giving reinsman Kyle Harper the second instalment of his driving double on the card.
“He sat around the entire day, actually behaved and didn’t work himself up, then led all the way to win, with a bit of luck going our way when the horse on the outside broke up just as it was about to go past us.”
Special Jack has most definitely been just that, but perhaps for all the wrong reasons. With some questionable mannerisms ands tricks up his sleeve, it’s been a mission for Lees to get him to the track, but after plenty of setbacks along the way, 2022 was their year.
“As a yearling he knocked me out when I was trying to put a halter on him for the first time, he just threw his head and connected with my cheek solidly.”
“He had been in work continuously, except when I was flooded out from then until four-years-old.”
“He is a lot of hard work, he is hard to catch and recently I had to scratch him from a race because I couldn’t catch him race day,”
“Once he spent the night at Phil Costello’s after a hopple run because he wouldn’t go on the float.”
“He is extremely fractious at the races and there are times he has been dripping with sweat with a puddle below him before he goes out.”
Heading to trials in December 2018 for his first educational, he continued to impress Lees, winning his educational trial at Bunbury in a three-horse field, then going on to qualify in his first open trial just four days later, Lees then decided to give him another trial for experience the following week where he ran fifth and was beaten by just 5m.
Making the two-and-a-half-hour trip to Narrogin in hopes of his first start with Special Jack, things didn’t go quite to plan, and with some colourful behaviour on show pre-race, Lees was on the edge of his seat wondering whether the striking gelding would keep it together long enough to get around that night.
“He reared up and threw himself down in the parade ring but did not hurt himself. We got him up and he then went out onto the track and did a warmup, but when the vet stopped him to do a vet check, he went up and threw himself on the track again.”
“He hurt the base of his tail when he did that and had about six weeks off, then I got him back to race fitness and after a vet certificate, I took him to Northam where I was racing his brother Masked Diablo and trialled him with Hayden Reeves on board,”
“Hayden obviously liked him because shortly after the trial, he asked if I would lease him the horse.”
“It wasn’t long after that I was flooded out again, so all the horses went out.”
If the battles with Special Jack weren’t hard enough for Russell, a life-threatening injury to his other runner Masked Diablo saw Lees take a step back from training and the horses were put back in the paddock for an extended break and even after putting the horses back into work during this three-year hiatus, he soon realised his heart wasn’t in it at the time.
“Then in 2021 once I had finish making hay and inspired by the success of the Reeves team, I said to myself no more excuses, these horses need to race and got stuck putting 12 in work straight away.”
“At his first track run in December, he was on his worst behaviour, I couldn’t steer him, he was bolting every time another horse came past and we hit the outside fence at Pinjarra about 20 times, it was probably the most scared I have ever been in the cart.”
“I took him home and changed a few things up and two weeks later we were at trials.”
“Jack had not been going as well as he was when he was four when we started racing, but the exposure to the racing environment is what he needed.”
Lees wasn’t confident going into Sunday’s race at Kellerberrin, convinced that he would have to lead the race and adamant that leading was not Special Jacks go, stating “he is no good in front” but the horse proved him wrong, leading all the way for a narrow victory.
Ashleigh Paikos