by Ashley Mayotte, WEG communications

Campbellville, ON — David Lemon has waited 40 years for a horse like Daylon Magician and on Saturday (September 17), the homebred colt will go to post in the biggest race of both their careers, the C$1 million Canadian Trotting Classic at Mohawk Racetrack.

It was about two years ago when Lemon made the decision to retire from selling his yearlings at commercial auctions. He opted to downsize his operation, keeping only two mares.

“We just said, ‘That’s it, we’re retired, but we’ve got these two good mares, so we are just going to breed them and train them myself,’” Lemon explained. “We’ve been breeding them for so long. We have sold all the yearlings now. When you keep them and train them, you get attached to one.”

New Image Media photo

Daylon Magician was a neck winner over Broad Bahn in their Canadian Trotting Classic elimination.

The Komoka, Ontario resident sees his horses as family members and takes great pride in being able to breed the horses he trains, like the son of Kadabra-Daylon Marvel, who he also owns.

“It is really super because we raced his mother and we had his grandmother,” said Lemon. “This is really part of the family. We were getting offers to sell him last year and I wouldn’t. People were asking and I would say, ‘Well, I can’t sell part of the family.’”

Daylon Magician has enjoyed a lucrative career for Lemon. He has won eight races in 10 seasonal starts, including his division of the Canadian Breeders Championship, and two Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Finals. The 11-time winner boasts earnings of $333,850 in 2011 and $555,856 lifetime.

The colt’s biggest win came in the OSS Super Final last November at Woodbine. He also equaled the world record for 3-year-old trotting colts on a half-mile track, with an eye-catching 1:54.2 performance at Flamboro Downs on August 14.

The bay leads the Ontario Sires Stakes standings for 3-year-old trotters with 262 Gold points and sits atop the standings with the highest OSS money earnings in his division with C$205,600.

Lemon isn’t the only one who thinks Daylon Magician is special. Regular pilot Jack Moiseyev concurs.

“He just loves him,” said the conditioner. “Right from the start when he qualified him as a 2-year-old, he said he would go anywhere and drive him because this is a super horse. Right from day one he really has been smart. He just knows what you want to do and you just have to tell him once.”

After a month layoff, Daylon Magician captured his Canadian Trotting Classic elimination last Saturday like a seasoned professional.

“Jack said right before the finish line, he just stuck his head out by himself,” Lemon said. “He has that will. He just wants to be first. It was four weeks since he had raced so I think that helped sharpen him up.”

Lemon has bred many top-notch horses, but Daylon Magician stands out as the top trotter he has owned and raised.

“We sold a few yearlings that made a million dollars,” he said. “His mother is almost the second best. It’s pretty exciting to train him. It is kind of surreal and it hasn’t sunk in yet. He is a once in a lifetime horse.”

A horse that could provide Lemon with a magical moment in a million-dollar ‘Classic.’

Canadian Trotting Classic final
PP-Horse-Listed Driver
1-Whiskey Tax-Randy Waples
2-Daylon Magician-Jack Moiseyev
3-Manofmanymissions-David Miller
4-Broad Bahn-George Brennan
5-Dejarmbro-Brian Sears
6-Sim Brown-Randy Waples
7-Whatever It Takes-Andy Miller
8-Blue Porsche-Jody Jamieson
9-Chapter Seven-Mike Lachance
10-Imperial Count-Scott Zeron
AE: VC Chocoholic-Brian Sears

The rich final will be televised live on The Score, in a special one-hour program from 9-10 p.m. (EDT), with post time for the Trotting Classic scheduled for 9:38 p.m. First race post time is 7:10 p.m.