Trots: He is the Mighty Quinn!

While being forced to sit stone-cold last and endure a sluggish opening to the $400,000 SEW Eurodrive WA Pacing Cup last week, Boyanup reinsman Kim Prentice admitted he had all but given up hope of scoring a landmark victory with leading Perth-based gelding Im Themightyquinn.

It should come as no surprise then that he now rates his glittering come-from-behind triumph in the feature as one of the greatest moments of his career.

‘‘After the first lap, they went so slow it was almost impossible for the horse to win,’’ Prentice said.

‘‘I was just thinking, this can’t be true.

‘‘That’s why the performance was so freakish from the horse; they went so slow early which didn’t suit him.’’

In a race that was not run to suit the Gary Hall Sr-trained six-year-old, a sluggish opening meant Prentice was forced to make a three-wide move from last place in the 2506m feature on Friday night at Gloucester Park.

The winner of the Inter Dominion Championship andWA Pacing Cup some eight years ago, Prentice was driving the champion horse in the absence of regular reinsman Gary Hall Jr, who is currently serving a suspension.

The breathtaking nature of the result with Prentice in control means that no one will be left to wonder what could have been.

‘‘The horse is just freakish.

''Honestly, he went out of his skin,’’ Prentice said.

‘‘It was one of the best results I’ve ever had driving a horse.

''It’s hard to explain, but it was just a freakish performance from the horse.’’

It’s true that Im Themightyquinn wentinto the feature as a hot $2.10 favourite on the back of a string of recent wins, including last month’s Bunbury Cup at Donaldson Park, but a prohibitive barrier draw left the reinsman with limited autonomy on the night.

Starting from barrier nine, Prentice was forced to drop back to last but the initial mile rate of 2m1.1s was a disaster.

From there, a victory for Im Themightyquinn seemed impossible.

But someone forgot to tell Prentice that, as he pushed the gelding through the field after 1100m to be in touch with the leaders when approaching the back straight in the final lap before eventually storming to the front against the odds to claim victory by half a length from the Tony Svilicich-trained Mysta Magical Mach.

Meanwhile at Donaldson Park on Saturday night, four-year-old gelding Hooza Cleva Dan broke through for trainer John Graham in the Rustic Palace Pace, holding off hot favourite North Toa Luckstar to claim an upset triumph.

Paying the generous odds of $21.50 on tote it was Hooza Clever Dan’s first win of the season, and just his fourth ever.

Trainer-driver Justin Warwick scored a double at the meeting when he claimed the Dynamic Print Pace (2100m) with Star of Dalvey and the Sky Channel Fillies and Mares Pace (1609m) with Red Success.

Other winners on the night included Extreme Desire, Alhambra Rocket, Who Thru Teddy and To Transcend.