One of the real personalities of Victorian harness racing, Jason Lee, went to extraordinary lengths last Saturday (Sept 6) to combine two of his sporting passions – football and harness racing.
Lee faced a dilemma: he was due to play his 150th game for Nirranda in the Warrnambool Football League – in a preliminary final, no less – but he also had a book of strong drives at Melton’s Saturday night harness meeting.
Determined not to miss either, Lee turned to a page out of the playbook of other sporting greats who have relied on a little aviation assistance.
Aussie Rules Hawthorn legend Peter Hudson once made it from Tasmania to Melbourne’s Waverly Park thanks to a helicopter dash, while cricket superstar David Warner famously landed on the SCG outfield just hours before a Big Bash appearance after attending his brother’s wedding.
Lee hatched a similar plan to deal with a sticky situation, meaning he could play the bulk of Nirranda’s clash before catching a plane flight west in time for Melton.
Fortunately, Nirranda had the match against the unbeaten Merrivale “in the bag” – booking a spot in this Saturday’s grand final against Allansford at Warrnambool’s Reid Oval – before Lee had to dash off!
Although he narrowly missed his first engagement at Melton on Viney (a winner in race 1 for catch-driver Allan McDonough), Lee wasted no time making up for it.
He drove a treble to underline his reputation as one of the state’s most consistent and competitive reinsmen.
Jason Lee after his third Melton win for the night, on Jilliby Ballerini for his mum and brother, Marg and Paddy (Stu McCormick photograph)
He was successful in The Tatlow on Letstartinheaven (Rock N Roll Heaven) (Emma Stewart); Keayang Tokyo (Captaintreacherous) (Marg and Paddy Lee) in the Hip Pocket Castlemaine Free For All; and in the last race, the Aldebaran Park Trotters Free For All on Jilliby Ballerini (Majestic Son) (Marg and Paddy Lee).
Hoofnote: AFL star Peter Hudson was living in Tasmania in1973 and running a hotel when the Hawks asked him to fly a day early for a Saturday fixture at. “That was out of the question because I had a special fully booked pub show featuring Norman Gunston on the Friday night,” Hudson explained. “The Hawks reluctantly agreed that I could fly over on the Saturday morning, but when I finally landed at Tullamarine (the flight had been delayed owing to thick fog) I had no time whatsoever to get to the ground (Waverly Park, on the opposite side of the city). So, a helicopter was suggested and that got my wife and I to the game on time.”
In the case of Warner, in January last year he completed a mad dash from his brother’s wedding in the Hunter Valley to the Sydney Cricket Ground in a helicopter. He landed on the outfield just hours before his first Big Bash appearance of the season – suiting up for the Sydney Thunder against cross-town rivals Sydney Sixers in a sold-out T20 blockbuster.
