Max Delight winning the 2026 Nullabor
Courtesy of Harness Racing Update
The story that is Max Delight’s emotion-charged $A1.25 million Group 1 Nullarbor win may never have happened.
And it started more than nine years ago when Tasmanian-based owner Mick Maxfield set a then Australian record for the colt by Bettors Delight out of Lady Euthenia (by Art Major) without actually buying him.
A bidding war erupted at the 2017 Australian Gold Sydney Yearling Sale between Maxfield, who was bidding online from Tasmania, and leviathan owner Emilio Rosati, who was the sale.
Rosati bid $A245,000 and when Maxfield went to offer $A250,000 in a glitch in the system, which didn’t allow online bids at $A250,000 or above because it had never happened, halted proceedings.
Thinking Maxfield had pulled out, a cameraman rushed to Rosati to capture the record-breaking moment.
The camera-shy and temperamental Rosati, gestured the cameraman away, vented his disgust at proceedings and aborted the sale.
Maxfield was asked if he would assume the $A245,000 bid.
He did and the horse was his.
“We all knew Dad (Mick) loved the horse from the catalogue, but when he hit $A200,000, then 210 and 220, I’ll admit I hoped it wasn’t dad still bidding,” said Maxfield’s son, Dean. “A few hours later, he came down the driveway telling us all he’d got the horse.
“There’s more bad stories than good ones with those top lots, but thankfully this old boy has turned out a different story.”
Mick Maxfield is battling ill health and couldn’t be at Gloucester Park last Friday night to celebrate Max Delight’s biggest win at his 161st start and the moment he crashed through the $A2 million barrier career earnings.
“He’s so loved to have been here, but he just isn’t well enough,” Dean said. “I rang him straight after the race and he was in tears. It’s such a special moment for him and the whole family.”
Mick’s role in the Nullarbor win went further and more immediate.
Frustrated at missing getting a slot into the race last year, it was Mick who insisted they take a slot this year when one became available just a couple of months before the race.
“Dad started here in Western Australia, working in the mines. He’s always wanted to be a part of this race,” Dean said. “Cam (Brown) from RWWA (Racing and Wagering WA) rang us and said there was a slot. Dad and I were keen, so I rang ‘Aikey’ (trainer David Aiken) and we snapped it up.”
What a role Aiken has played.
No wonder he declared it “right up there” and “emotionally and sentimentally, as great a moment as I’ve had.”
That’s from a man who has won so many premierships and big races, including the 2015 Inter Dominion at Gloucester Park with the former great Lennytheshark.
“That’s the second $1 million race I’ve won here. Lenny won the other and the year after Lenny, we almost did it again in the Inter Dominion here with Hectorjayjay (second to Smolda,” Aiken said.
“When Lenny and Hector finished, I never thought I’d get another one good enough to come back here, until this old marvel.”
Aiken, 67, has trained over 2600 winners and this was his 35th at Group 1 level.
Like Max Delight, who missed a year of racing with injury after a record-breaking three-year-old season, Aiken has overcome serious adversity.
There were times a couple of years back whether he and doctors wondered if he would win his long battle with prostate cancer.
“You just enjoy these moments more,” he said.
“It’s such a great thrill and to share it with Mick (Maxfield) and his family, after we’ve raced this horse for eight years, is so amazing.
“I remember a couple of years back just hoping he would get past $A1 million in prize money because he so deserved it. Here he is two years later, topping $A2 million.”
While Max Delight, Aiken and Mick Maxfield are veterans, the contrast came with his young gun driver, Will Rixon. He’s just 25 and that was by far his biggest win and just his fifth at Group 1 level.
“He’s been the difference in my career so far. I owe so much to this old guy, ‘Aikey’ and the Maxfields for letting me drive him,” Rixon said.
“The first time I drove, I was just filling in, but we had some early luck and I stayed on. That’s despite driving a shocker in the Newcastle Mile on him a couple of months back.”
That drive was long forgotten when Rixon produced a gem to use gate three and land the prime one-out, one-back trail on favourites and local WA heroes Magnificent Storm (leader) and Minstrel (outside leader).
“That was the plan and when he landed there and travelled so well, I started to think we could do it,” Rixon said.
“He’d been a bit lazy at home, but I thought the trip away, big crowd and new surroundings might spark him up a bit and it did. He felt so sharp in the warm up and the race. I knew he’d give a big kick when I asked him.”
Max Delight overhauled the leaders and held off a booming finish from outsider Golden Lode to win by a half neck in a slick 1min54.9sec mile rate for the long 2536m trip.
“Will was sort of next in line after so many others had driven the horse, including Todd McCarthy way back, and just clicked with him. Not just that, but he’s such a classy young person, who knew what the horses meant to Mick (Maxfield) and would do him videos before and after the races,” Aiken said.
Rixon, who is nearing 1000 career wins and is rapidly emerging as one of Australia’s best drivers, is bred to be a star.
His father is Miracle Mile winning horseman Peter Rixon and mother is Cindy Turnbull, part of Australian harness racing’s iconic Turnbull clan from Bathurst.
“What a 15 months or so this horse has given me,” Rixon said. “He’s really been the difference in my career so far. He’s taken me into the big races, like a Miracle Mile and Inter Dominion and now this.
“He’s also turned my fortunes around over here. It’s the fourth time I’ve been and nothing went right the first three, including driving Mighty Ronaldo in this race.
“Trust old Max to come out and change everything.”
It was Max Delight’s 38th win at his 161st start with another 24 seconds and 28 thirds.
He became just the 29th Australasian pacer to pass $A2 million in earnings on $A2,009,599.
Amazingly, the Nullarbor was Max Delight's first Group 1 win in four-and-a-half years. The last was in the Victoria Cup at Bendigo on October 9, 2021.
Aiken confirmed Max Delight would stay in Perth and back-up in next Friday night’s $A300,000 Group 1 Fremantle Cup.
He is trying to match Mister Smartee and Catch A Wave from the past two years and complete the Nullarbor/Fremantle Cup double.
“Coming here, I actually thought he might be even better suited in the Freo Cup, but now it would just be a bonus,” Aiken laughed.
PHOTO: Pacepix
