THAT was a statement.
As the slots start to fill-up for the $1.5 million TAB Eureka, emerging WA star Mad Monday put himself right in the frame with the best win of his career so far in last night’s $125,000 Group 2 WA 4YO Classic (2130m) at Gloucester Park.
It was his sixth win from nine starts this season and driver Deni Roberts took full advantage of a good draw (gate four) to blast to the front and dictate the feature.
Mad Monday, a son of Vincent, scorched home in 55.3 and 27.3sec for a 1min54.7sec mile rate and a dominant 4.4m win over another of WA’s star four-year-olds, Runkle Crunch.
“He’s come back so well this campaign, we’ve got a really big opinion of him,” co-trainer Greg Bond said.
“He’s the (Group 1) Golden Nugget here in two weeks and then we’d love to have a crack at the Eureka if we can get a slot.”
Although only two of the 10 TAB Eureka slots have been confirmed – Loucasso (Rampant Standardbreds) and Double Lou (Tony Licastro) – several others are believed to be close to locked-in.
Mad Monday could become just the second WA-trained pacer to contest the TAB Eureka. Never Ending ran eighth as a $3.20 favourite in 2024.
Team Bond has a strong record at Menangle, including finishing second in the 2024 Inter Dominion final with stable star Minstrel.
Mad Monday. PHOTO: Pacepix