Performance thrills trainer

Cambridge trainer Tony Pike enjoyed a red-letter day at the Sunshine Coast on June 17 with a winning treble that included victory in the feature race, the Listed Daybreak Lover (1200m), with The Bostonian.

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 in it,” he said. “They had me scheduled for surgery on the 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 had 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).

“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.”

Fellow 3-year-old Sacred Rebel scored in a lower-grade 1200m event earlier in the day and the Pike treble was completed by staying filly Terra Sancta winning over 1800m.