Daryl Boko goes in fresh

Going in to a 3200 metre race without a start for six months is a rather unusual scenario for any horse, and that becomes exponentially harder when it is in not just a Group I, but the biggest race of the year.

That is the scenario facing Daryl Boko in Friday’s Group I $300,000 Dominion Handicap at Addington.

Luckily, the Finland-bred trotter has one big plus to counter the near-insurmountable odds. His name? Tim Butt.

Butt has trained the winner of eight Dominion Handicaps and has an unmatched record of winning Group I trotting races throughout Australasia.

And after two years of learning the ins and outs of his European acquisition, Butt has a theory about the son of Majestic Son.

‘‘He seems to go his best races fresh and doesn’t back-up all that well. So, I was only going to give him one race this week and I decided to go with the Dominion over the Trotting Free For All.

‘‘I think it’s one of the weaker Dominions in recent memory, so I have taken a bit of a punt and put him in there. He’s always trialed well fresh, raced well fresh and he’s actually gone tremendous in the last two Dominions, he just missed away both times.’’

Daryl Boko is yet to set the world on fire down under, but he has still won near enough to $80,000 here, placed twice at Group I level in Australia and won a Group III at Cambridge.

Butt moved to Sydney last month, but had done a lot of the ground work with Daryl Boko and has closely-monitored his progress since.

‘‘He had a few minor feet problems – nothing major but enough to just put us behind the eight-ball and mean we couldn’t get a race in to him a few weeks ago.’’ He’s drawn handily on the inside of the front line and Butt says that will be ideal for his brother, Anthony, to fire the tapes and find the markers near the front of the field.

‘‘He’ll go forward from there and I’m pretty happy with his condition, so we are expecting a good run. He’s definitely fit enough.’’

After Friday’s run, Daryl Boko will be part of the next wave of horses headed to Sydney, along with Butt’s other runner on the day, Rocknroll Magic.

‘‘There are plenty of suitable races for a horse like him (Daryl Boko) over in Aussie, so it makes sense.’’ After his brilliant win in the New Zealand Trotting Free For All on Tuesday, Great Things Happen is a $1.80 for the Dominion Handicap, ahead of Bordeaux ($3.90) and Dark Horse ($8.20). Daryl Boko was a $41 chance.