Cambridge trainer Tony Pike enjoyed a red-letter day at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday with a winning treble that included victory in the feature race, the Listed Daybreak Lover (1200m), with the Trelawney born and raised The Bostonian (Jimmy Choux x Keepa Cheval).
Pike was delighted with the performance of his team, although disappointed he couldn’t be on-course.
“I busted my wrist a couple of weeks ago and it needs a plate to be inserted Qin it,” he said.
“They had me scheduled for surgery on Saturday so I decided I’d better get it done and cancelled my flight to Australia.
“As it turned out I went into hospital and had to come home again as there was an issue that meant my surgery was cancelled and will have to be rescheduled.
“All I could do was head home and watch the racing on TV.”
What Pike saw pleased him immensely as The Bostonian overcame a frustrating few weeks to score a narrow victory, his second at stakes level after taking out a Listed event at Hastings last September before finishing second in the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m).
“It’s fairly well documented we’ve had some issues with him over there with wide draws and the like,” he said.
“I’m just delighted for his connections as we all know he has plenty of ability and he deserved to be able to show that.
“Now he’s got that run under his belt we can press on with him to the Sunshine Coast Guineas at the end of the month.”
Owner-breeder David Archer’s association with the family of champion Mufhasa continued to pay dividends.
“He is out of Keepa Cheval who is a half-sister to Mufasa who we raced,” Archer said.
“He won the Toorak and the Futurity and (we also race) Chaussure with Chris Waller and he is another Keepa Cheval horse, so she is a nice mare.”
“Tony has always thought he was a very nice galloper, so we will talk to Tony and (perhaps) come back in the spring. I would say he will have one more race here (first before a spell).”
The Bostonian now sports a record of four wins from seven starts for prize money of $152,792. -NZ Racing Desk, ANZ Bloodstock News