Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Mister Linton, the $2.90 favourite in the 2130m Catalano Truck And Equipment Sales Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night, started from the inside of the back line and was hemmed in on the inside, three back on the pegs in the first 450m.
With Shannon Suvaljko concerned when or whether Mister Linton would be able to get into the clear, $31 chance Maddy Maddy (who was on the outside of, and covering up Mister Linton) broke into a gallop and dropped back, leaving Suvaljko with a heaven-sent opportunity to ease off the inside and gain the highly favourable one-out, one-back position with two laps to travel.
“The horse on the outside of me jumped out of her gear, enabling me to get off the inside,” said Suvaljko. “However, I think I would have been okay if I had to stay on the pegs, with the way the race was run (with Shoot Through running the second and third quarters in 29.4sec. and 29.7sec.).
“I was probably too close to the speed once I got off the rails. He was still a bit underdone (at his second run after a spell) and with smart quarters you had to stay with them. It all worked out well in the end.”
Trainer Mike Reed said that he thought that Mister Linton would have performed a bit better at his second appearance after a seven-month absence. “Maybe his first-up run (when second to Tubbs Farquhar) the previous week took the edge off him,” he said. “He is a good, honest horse.”
Mister Linton, bred and owned by Kim Marsh, is by American sire Sweet Lou and is the only foal out of Maggies Mystery, an Artesian mare who earned $191,796 from 14 wins and 36 placings from 140 starts.