St Leger Winner for Sebring
Daytona Red produced a career-best performance at Trentham on Saturday and trainer Shaune Ritchie believes there’s plenty more to come from the four-year-old.
The Sebring gelding was a dominant winner of the Listed Yealands Family Wines New Zealand St Leger (2500m) and expectations are that he will be featuring in some of the country’s premier distance events next season.
“He was certainly impressive today and there is a lot of improvement to come from him,” Ritchie said.
“He’s a tall horse who hasn’t filled out his frame yet. He’s still terrible out of the gates and then comes off the bit in his races.
“He can improve in all those areas with a bit more time.”
Ritchie has yet to decide on Daytona Red’s immediate future and will consult with co-owner Peter Mitchell, whose famous colours were carried by the mighty Bonecrusher.
“He’s away in China so I’ll be having a chat with him,” he said.
“The initial plan though was to give him a break and then get him back during the winter to build up for some of the spring and summer cups. We’ll wait and see how he is when he gets home.”
Ridden by Matt Cameron, Daytona Red settled at the tail of the field before they began to pick up ground 600m from home.
They swung wide into the straight and held a strong gallop to the post to score by two and three-quarter lengths.
Daytona Red has won three of 10 starts and is the first winner for Move On Up, an unraced half-sister by Iglesia to World Champion Miler Able Friend.
Daytona Red is the 38th stakes-winner for Widden Stud’s flagship sire Sebring, who has 34 entries for the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
