Ride High enhances reputation by smashing Bendigo track record
The hype around Ballarat boom pacer Ride High has gone to a whole new level after a record-breaking performance at Bendigo on Saturday night.
Ride High smashed the track record with a career-best mile rate of 1:49 - one of the all-time fastest times in Australian harness racing history.
He took 2.7 seconds off the mark for the 1650m trip.
The aura surrounding the five-year-old has grown with each of the four starts he has had since resuming from a lengthy injury-enforced break.
Cardigan trainer Clayton Tonkin has right from the outset of the entire's career stated that the son of Art Major is the best pacer he has ever been associated with.
Ride High ($1.04 favourite) has reinforced this with each run this campaign, with him establishing himself as one of the fastest pacers in Australasia with winning mile rates of 1:51.6, 1:50.8 and 1:53.6 leading up to Bendigo, and potentially the best.
It has to be seen to be believed - #RideHigh stripped 2.7 sec off @BendigoTrots' track record with victory in the @GarrardsHnH Pace in 1:49.0 - a 14th victory in 15 starts.
— The Trots (@TheTrotsComAu) August 1, 2020
What a moment for @KimaFrenning, @TonkinStewart and the "beast" they call Chainsaw! #TheTrotspic.twitter.com/UZ6Q4E5xfY
His regular driver Kima Frenning, who is now based in Ballarat, said this performance should silence critics who had been taking aim at the quality of races Ride High had been contesting.
"There's been a bit of talk about how he hasn't beaten a lot and he's got to prove that he's really good and I think he just did that," she said.
Frenning was full of accolades for Ride High, which is being aimed at the group 1 Victoria Cup, which is scheduled to be run in October.
"He doesn't spend any more energy than what he has to. I think that makes him a really, really good racehorse.
"He never carries on, he never pulls. I drove him in a trial a couple of years ago now and I sat him up, he dropped the bit and as soon as I pulled out he just went. He's got the whole package," she said.