May 28 - The well-known Hollywood Park race course in Inglewood, California, was the scene of high octane horse racing action on Monday, May 26th where up-and-coming race horse, Daytona, won the $310,500 Shoemaker Mile, for his second career Grade 1 stakes victory.

Usually one to lead or dispute the leads in most of his races, throughout most of the Shoemaker Mile, Daytona seemed quite content to follow a modest pace on the heels of Ever a Friend. It wasn't until in the early stretch that jockey, Alex Solis, spurred Daytona to the front.

From the outset Daytona was within an easy length of Ever a Friend and, until he pulled alongside Ever a Friend and then onto a convincing 1 1/2 length lead, it may have looked to punters as if the seven runner race was going to belong to Ever a Friend.

Said Solis after the race, 'I know Daytona very well and was confident that he could comfortably sit as he is a much better horse than he ever used to be, and is far more controllable. As such, I can do just about anything with him now.'

Ever a Friend managed to hold onto second place, finishing just in front of Hyperbaric. In March this year, Ever a Friend won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, showing that he is a horse to watch in future showings. Perfect Drift, a 9-year-old in his first race of the year, finished fourth.

Daytona, who is trained by Dan Hendricks, has won 8 of his 15 starts and a total of $967,690 for the partnership that owns him. His notable wins include the Grade 2 Arcadia Handicap at Santa Anita last month and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in November last year.