Max Delight & David Aiken Photo by Stuart McCormick
MAX Delight is not the best horse David Aiken has trained, but he could be the most special.
Aiken trained the great Lennytheshark to an Inter Dominion, Miracle Mile and two Victoria Cups between 2015-17 and has the brilliant but injury-plagued Hectorjayjay around the same time.
Max Delight's career was just starting when Lennytheshark and Hectorjayjay were coming to the end of theirs.
Although Max Delight won the NSW Derby and Breeders Crown in 2019 and added a Victoria Cup in 2019, the timing of the now eight-year-old's renaissance is so special for Aiken and his wife, Colleen.
Aiken, 64, was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple of years back and had surgery, but still isn't out of the woods.
"I feel fantastic, but my PSA levels are still up a bit, and I'm still on watch with the oncologist," he said.
"I'm in great hands. They will keep doing pet scans until they find out where the problem area is and then give me radiation."
"I'm not complaining; there's a lot of people with worse cancer than I've got, but it's certainly a boost having the old horse back winning good races again."
Max Delight went winless in 36 starts across 18 months until Aiken took him to Wagga "for a kill" and it's proven a masterstroke from the trainer who boasts more than 2500 wins across his stellar career in NSW and then Victoria since 1996.
Max Delight, owned in Tasmania by Mick Maxfield, completed a hat trick of wins and beat some serious rivals courtesy of a brilliant Nathan Jack drive in last Saturday night's $75,000 Bendigo Cup.
The win twisted Aiken's arm to scrap more planned trips to the NSW Country Cup circuit and aim higher, towards Victoria's biggest race, the $450,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup at Melton on February 3.
"I never thought he was done. He was still working really well at home, and his sectional times were good from all the bad barriers he had, but getting that 'kill' at Wagga certainly helped turn things around," Aiken said.
"Nathan (Jack) has also been a big factor, just the change to a different style of driver at this stage of the horse's career."
It was a no-brainer for Aiken to back up Max Delight on Saturday night in his hometown's $75,000 Shepparton Cup.
"He's going as well as he was at his peak, and I think he deserves another go at the Hunter Cup. Hopefully, he runs well again this week and makes it impossible for the selectors to leave him out," Aiken said.
Victory at Shepparton, which carries a $42,750 first prize, would edge Max Delight very close to $1 million in career earnings. He's raced 102 times for 26 wins, 29 placings and $940,924.
Hunter Cup or not, Aiken will chase a Miracle Mile berth with Max Delight at Menangle in March.
The master trainer also revealed he would be spending a lot more time in NSW from next month.
"We're keeping the farm at Shepparton, but Colleen has picked up a great job in Sydney, and I'll train a few out of the Menangle stables," he said.
"Josh (Aiken's son) will keep working a few here (Avenel, near Shepparton), and I'll be going back and forth quite a bit. My oncologist is down here, too. It's only six-and-a-half hours in a car from Menangle to our stables."
"We've scaled back quite a bit already, which adds to how special Max Delight's recent success has been."
"I'm 65 on my next birthday, and we want to be able to travel and do some of the things we haven't with a big stable."
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
