Racing: Long-striding Banner shocks driver with easy victory

Ricky May sat quietly in the drivers' room at Addington Raceway on Thursday night and reflected upon the victory he had just enjoyed.

Outstanding Mainland Banner should not have won the Peruvian Hanover Handicap Pace as easily as she did and May was shocked.

He had a good measuring stick for the magnitude of the victory, because he assists in the training of second-placed runner Spring Alot.

Mainland Banner made a mistake at the start of the 2600m event and settled well off the speed, but May secured a dream three-wide tow around the field for the closing lap.

When May asked her to lengthen stride with 400m to go, the 4-year-old daughter of Christian Cullen did so easily and surged to the front out wide in the home stretch.

"Spring Alot is trained by my father Terry and I know the horse very well. When I saw how far off the speed I was with Mainland Banner I thought we would be lucky to finish in the money," said May.

"Spring Alot did do a bit of work during the race but I didn't think for one minute that I'd be able to run past him so easily in the home stretch with Mainland Banner.

"I do think Spring Alot will win his way through to Free-For-All class this season, so the performance from Mainland Banner was amazing.

"She didn't feel flat at any stage of the race and when I asked her for an effort she produced it in a matter of strides. This race was her first run following a four-month spell and she'll strip down a fitter horse with that run under her belt.

"The amazing thing with this mare is that she's had only nine race starts and she is a natural athlete.

"Her big test will be next Friday night in the Superstars Final again here at Addington when we run into Baileys Dream.

"Then Robert [Dunn, trainer] and Ian [Dobson, owner] can sit down and decide her future racing plans for this season. There has been talk of her possibly starting in the New Zealand Cup, but that's not my decision to make.

"She's only a 4-year-old and there are a stack of racing opportunities for her this season, including the Ladyship Mile and Chariots Of Fire Pace in Sydney, as well as the Taylor Mile and Messenger Championship.

"With another season of racing, Mainland Banner has the potential to develop into a racehorse of freakish ability."