Mister Daytona heads for home at Gloucester Park.
The transformation of Mister Daytona from a desultory and disinterested worker at Greg and Skye Bond’s Forrestdale stables to an enthusiastic and spirited performer on the racetrack is quite remarkable.
The New Zealand-bred four-year-old continues to delight the Bonds, who own the stallion, and he now boasts a 75 per cent winning record, something that could be improved after he contests the first heat of the Lewis Pace, the WA Racing Hall of Fame Nominee Andy Sheahan event over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He fared badly in the random draw and will start from the outside in the field of six. However, it would be most unwise to discount the winning prospects of a pacer who has raced 20 times for 15 wins and one third placing for earnings of $95,174.
“If you drive him at home you wouldn’t think that he’s that good,” said reinsman Ryan Warwick. “But when he comes to the racetrack he feels so much different.
“He never worked particularly well, so we stopped hoppling him. We now just gallop him on the sand and don’t hopple him at all. At home, he’s very ordinary, but at the racetrack he has that desire to win. He’s won at 15 of his 20 starts in which he galloped in three of them. So, realistically, it is 15 from 17.”
Mister Daytona overcame the disadvantage of starting from the outside barrier (No. 9) in the Im Themightyquinn final last week when he charged forward, three wide early, dashed over the lead time in 36sec. and burst to the front after 500m before going on to win convincingly from Pay Me Cullen and James Galleon, with final quarters of 27.9sec. and 28.2sec.
He worked hard and covered extra ground before winning easily at his two previous outings, over 2130m at Gloucester Park and 2258m at Albany.
On Friday night Mister Daytona is sure to receive stiff opposition from the polemarker Atlastalone and the talented five-year-old American Boy.
Reinsman Michael Grantham declared that nine-year-old Atlastalone would set the pace from the No. 1 barrier and had the ability to defeat Mister Daytona. “He grows a leg in front and can repeat his all-the-way win last Friday night when he beat American Boy and Bounty Eyre,” he said.
Warwick concedes that Atlastalone is a serious rival and said that he would be left with the task of making the decision to make his move from the rear with Mister Daytona.
