The Andrew McDonald-conditioned Phineas continued to show vast improvement when he scored a fighting win in the $845,000 Gladiator Trophy co-feature at Caymanas Park last Saturday.

Phineas (Distorted –Winning Spirit), under Wesley Henry, showed good speed at the start of the race, as he was engaged in a speed duel withSmokey Topaz under Oneil Mullings andLong Running Train with Paul Francis astride approaching the quarter bend.

When asked to really run by Henry entering the stretch run,Phineas responded well and drew away from the field but then had to withstand a late burst from the fast-finishingCampesino, with Dane Nelson in the saddle, in the last furlong to win by a neck in the Open Allowance event for three-year-olds and upward over 1,400 metres.

Edison (Odean Ewdards up), who was outpaced throughout the race, finished third ahead ofLong Running Train in the six-horse field.Long Running Train finished third but was disqualified for causing interference in deep stretch toEdison.

Owned by Nical and bred by Dr Paul Wright,Phineas covered the distance in a good 1:24.1 minutes to register his fourth win for the season from 13 starts with earnings just above $2.2 million.

McDonald said that he was confident in his charge’s chances.

“The performance today (Saturday) was good as the win showed his true fighting spirit. However, I did expect him (Phineas) to win this race as he is as fit as hands can make him and he has trained pretty well coming into the race. Basically it was just two horses (Phineas andCampesino) in the race and we defeatedCampesino before so I was confident that he could do it again,” McDonald explained to theComplete Racing Guide.

McDonald said that it is now rest time for his six-year-old gelding.

“

Phineas has done well this season and to be fair, he needs some rest time now and that is what I am going to give him and reprogramme him next year,” he said.