NIGHT TIME DANNY rolled back the years to lead home younger rivals and land his second GBGB Category One title in the Star Sports Galaxy Marathon Final at Oxford last week.

 

Owned and trained by Stephen Rayner and winner of the 2021 Coral Champion Stakes at Romford, Night Time Danny made all in the heats seven days previously and repeated the dose in the £10,000-to-the-winner decider over 847m – completing a successful step up in distance from six to eight bends.

 

Pacing up well inside to lead the charge, the November 2018 son of Sh Avatar and Nom De Plume, very much a senior now, soon had his rivals under pressure as he set a superb tempo up top – racing to a 27.08sec sectional – ahead of Beach Bell (Tom Levers), with Castell Mill (Rob Short) making a move on the second circuit.

 

However, Night Time Danny held firm to the lead and kept his form all the way to the line, winning by a length from the staying-on Ower Smasher (June Harvey) and fast-finishing A Mystical Love (Lee Pearce). The winning time was 53.38sec (normal).

 

Oxford racing manager Simon Pearson said the first running of the Star Sports Galaxy Marathon had proved a great success, albeit the competition had lost Space Jet, the ante-post favourite recently crowned SIS Marathon Performer of the Year, in-season right at the start.

 

“That was disappointing but couldn’t be helped, of course,” said Pearson, who added: “What it did, however, was throw the competition wide open and we had two excellent heats and then a final with plenty of chances on paper beforehand.

 

“And what a great final it was with a well-deserved winner in Night Time Danny. He lined up as the oldest finalist, very much a senior performer, but kept his younger rivals at bay to land the spoils – I might have actually seen Steve Rayner smiling at the presentation!

 

“Every dog ran well in the race, albeit Droopys Jungle, the other joint-favourite on the night, dropped herself out again and left herself with far too much to do, although I’m not sure Night Time Danny’s connections and backers were too displeased about that!

 

“Well done to the winner and to the trackstaff. Track conditions here were again excellent and helped Night Time Danny clock an even faster time in the final than he did in the heats – fair play to him.

 

“We now look forward to our next major competition at Oxford which will be the Bet365 Hunt Cup. Entries close on Tuesday, April 4, with the heats live on RPGTV on Friday, April 7. The semis are a week later, with the £10,000 final on April 21.”

 

Result: https://www.gbgb.org.uk/meeting/?meetingId=395004&raceId=921788