by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — When freshman trotter Outburst stopped the clock in a world record 1:53.1 on Sept. 27 at The Red Mile, Noel Daley was not shocked that the gelding was on his way to get his picture taken, but he was incredulous with how swiftly the juvenile he co-owns and conditions trotted his mile.

“I’m not delusional,” he said. “He is definitely nowhere near as good as his father (Explosive Matter) was at 2, but now he’s the fastest 2-year-old gelding of all time.

“He is a nice horse and I never considered him to be of champion quality, so it was a bit of a surprise for us. The third horse (race favorite Southwind Spirit) went out and did all the work for the whole mile so it worked out perfectly for us.

“I did actually think he could win the race, I didn’t think he would do it in world record time, but I was confident he could win the race with the right trip and he got it.”

Nigel Soult photo

Outburst (#6) was a narrow winner in his Bluegrass division in a world record time of 1:53.1.

A son of first crop sire Explosive Matter and the Supergill mare Exquisite Lady, Outburst is also owned by Adam Victor & Son Stable and Mirva Bogucki. The trio purchased him for $33,000 at last year’s Lexington Selected Sale and he is a half-brother to Highly Refined, who was a $70,000 yearling purchase that only made $120 during his brief career, Mr Exquisite, a $35,000 yearling purchase that never made it to the gate, and Sand Lladro, a $10,000 yearling purchase by Cantab Hall that has collected a little more than $7,300 during his time at the races.

Although his sire was an outstanding individual, the performance of Outburst’s siblings wouldn’t have many people rushing to sign a check, but Daley selected the colt based on the advice of a colleague that believed quality did exist on his dam’s side. Who his father was certainly factored into the decision, but was not the primary reason Daley brought him home.

“All the foals ended up having issues and didn’t show anything on paper, but he knew there was one in Sweden that had just started racing,” Daley said. “He knew all the other foals would have been pretty sharp without those issues, so when this foal came along, he went and saw him in the paddock and he really liked him. Also, he was an Explosive Matter and we were looking to get a couple of his colts from his first year. He fit in perfectly.”

From seven pari-mutuel engagements, Outburst has a record of 4-1-1. He has earned just shy of $90,000 and his first performance after his world record will be on Friday (Oct. 4) in an $87,500 division of the International Stallion Stakes at The Red Mile. He will leave from post four in an eight horse field as the 2-1 morning line favorite with Ron Pierce grasping the reins. The race is the fourth on the card.

“He’s never really let us down anytime,” Daley said. “I assume he will be good again in there. I’m not watching for him to break his world record or anything, but he is going to be the horse to beat.”

Outburst commenced his career on Aug. 7 in a $13,000 non-winners race at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. It has been his only off the board finish as he was second coming into the stretch and broke stride to finish seventh, but was placed sixth.

He broke his maiden on Aug. 13 over the same oval in a division of the PA Stallion Series and was then second to heavy favorite Don Dorado in an $85,616 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes contest at Harrah’s Philadelphia. On Sept. 4 he returned to Scranton-Wilkes Barre for another victory in a $13,000 non-winners race, before finishing third in a $10,000 first leg contest of the Kindergarten Series at The Red Mile on Sept. 12. Outburst captured his third triumph in the $10,000 second leg of the Kindergarten Series on Sept. 19 and kind of caught the harness world by surprise with his world record mile on Sept. 27.

“We liked him right from the start,” Daley said. “Then he went through a stage in February where he started doing things wrong basically and wasn’t focused, so that is when we decided to geld him. He has always been pretty sound, but it was his attitude and he was just being a colt.

“It wasn’t like he was a $200,000 purchase and we were not worried about the breeding side of it, so we tried to geld him and carry on from there.

“He should have won his first start. He was actually going good and went to the inside when they went into the straightaway at Pocono because he didn’t know what to do. He had never been in that situation before and like a lot of other young trotters, it bit him off balance a little bit and he made a miscue.”

When Outburst completes his race on Friday, he will probably start only one more time this year before his winter vacation.

“I paid him up to a lot of things to start with as far as the first payments, but when I had to geld him, I dropped him out of a lot of things,” Daley said. “I put him in a lot of the better races next year, but all he has left this year is the Kindergarten. After that we will bring him back to the barn, check him out and that will probably be it for him. That will be good as long as he shuts down sound. Then we will bring him back next year and if he shows he can go the speeds, we will give a go in all the big things next year.”