SMART two-year-old Mister John kept his unbeaten record intact when he scored a courageous win in the 2YO Handicap over 1200 metres at The TOTE Racing Centre in Launceston today.
Mister John (David Pires) won on debut on the Tapeta synthetic at Spreyton on May 2 but today’s task was more difficult as it was on grass and on a very slow surface.
As the gelded son of Strada-Kats Clause did on debut, he settled second and faced the breeze outside of race leader Little River Girl and despite giving away a huge weight advantage he edged clear at the business end of the race to score from Little River Girl with first-starter Not Another Red a distant third and well in advance of Miss Eye Candy.
Mister John is trained at Brighton by Royston Carr and is owned and was bred by Dr John Burke who was delighted wit the win.
“I was very pleased with his win on debut but today he has done it on sheer ability because according to the rider (Pires) he didn’t really handle the slow going.” Burke said.
“To win like that and carrying 60 kilograms (including jockey’s vest) it is quite a feat.”
Miter John is likely to be tipped out for a lengthy spell and brought back in the late spring and he’ll be set for some of the good races during the Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival.