Caption: Sunshine Delight winning at Albion Park (Photo: Box 1 Photography)

By MIKE HILL

BEACHMERE-trained sprinter Sunshine Delight gave a powerful exhibition of front running last month and in the process set a new Bundaberg 550m track record.

The Paul McIlveen-prepared chaser crushed his rivals in a heat of the $6500 Young Guns, winning by 13-and-a-quarter lengths.

Sunshine Delight (My Redeemer-Lemon Sunrise) stopped the clocked at 30.91s – .05s faster than the previous best held by It’s A Rush.

It was a big day for McIlveen, who took three runners to Bundaberg and returned home with a winning treble.

He later admitted he had all three in an all-up bet.

“So, it was a pretty pleasant trip home,” the trainer said.

His other winners were I’m The Bill ($2), winner of a 460m 5th Grade, and Group performer Bad And Boujee, a $3.20 winner of the 4th/5th Grade over 550m.

Sunshine Delight, a highly consistent performer for the kennel, was sent out a hot $1.28 favourite.

“He’s a really, really good dog,” McIlveen said of his new record holder.

“He tries so hard, it is difficult to do much with him because he can come up with niggling injuries.

“I knew he could go close to the record because he had drawn perfectly in the two box and I was confident he would lead.

“He’s a 29.80 dog around Albion Park.”

The win took his record to 12 wins and 14 placings from 37 starts and lifted his earnings to just under $70,000.

Meanwhile, local trainer David Plummer produced another potential kennel star when Garfunkel (Dyna Steal-Foxy Fireball) clocked the fastest maiden victory since the club went TAB in May 2019. The youngster, having only his second race start, clocked 26.12s for the 460m trip, winning by almost 13-and-a-half lengths.