DEMON DELIVERA BOUNCES BACK AT BIG ODDS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, March 9, 2024

It is always good for a stable to get a winner ... and it is even better if it is a winner at real value odds, such as the $26 (drifting from $21) that was offered about the chances of the four-year-old gelding Demon Delivera in a Class 3 Handicap over 1300m at Toowoomba on March 9.

The Corey and Kylie Geran trained four-year-old has scored two wins from six starts in his first preparation as a two and a three-year-old.

In the last of those six runs, Demon Delivera finished second in the Garden City Guineas at Toowoomba behind the Tony Gollan trained Madame Odette who would go on to compete in the Princess Stakes, the Bracelet (both Listed races), the Roses (Group 2) and the Group 1 Queensland Oaks.

For his part though, Demon Delivera’s marked time after that Garden City Guineas run.

He was given a seven-and-a-half month break from racing and resumed for a three-race preparation in which he failed to fire, leading to another extended seven-month spell in the paddock and when Demon Delivera next reappeared for a first-up run at Toowoomba on February 17, it was an absolute non-event with the son of Deep Field left standing in the gates when the field was released and effectively taking no part in the race.

That meant that when Demon Delivera arrived at the track on March 9 for this latest assignment, you had to go all the way back to September 2022 to find his last win.

Even after showing that early promise, with more recent events and results seeming to conspire against him, Demon Delivera was unwanted in the betting with that $26 being his starting price.

As indicated by that price, little did most people know that Demon Delivera was about to bounce back in no uncertain terms.

Demon Delivera, who was ridden by Karl Zecher, didn’t have the early pace to match the speed of those who were quickest out of the gates, and he ended up smack in midfield, hugging the rail after jumping from the number one barrier, racing some four lengths off the leader, but a length in advance of the $3.70 favourite Private Banker as the field went down the back stretch.

Zechner had Demon Delivera hold his position, saving ground, in the approach to the home turn. While Zechner was essentially riding for luck, that option was going to be an important factor in the final outcome because, while Private Banker had to track five wide on the turn, the run along the inside that Zechner had been waiting for did present itself and Zechner duly drove Demon Delivera in-between runners on straightening reaching the lead early in the home straight.

Having got first run and having gained the advantage over Private Banker, Demon Delivera was ready to kick on as Private Banker, momentarily, loomed large, but that quickly became an uneven contest as the Geran trained runner easily outgunned his only danger, in the end going away to win by an emphatic 2.80 length margin.

Demon Delivera is now a three-time winner from only eleven starts and this latest ‘back on song’ win pushed his prize-money earning to $74 085.

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