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Tabcorp Park, NSW
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It was the perfect warm-up drive for the Miracle Mile later in the evening...read more
Trotters. Discretionary Handicap. RBD 1.609 m Standingstart Purse: $50 000
| Pl | Horse | Prize- money |
Row & Br |
TAB # |
Trainer | Driver (C = Concession) |
Mgn (m) |
Starting odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MAORI TIME | $ 25,000 | Fr4 | 4 | Brent Lilley | Todd McCarthy | $ 10.00 | |
| BAY MARE 8 by
PEGASUS SPUR CA out of
SUNDONNA
(SUNDON USA) Owner(s): F (Fredrick) Crews Breeder(s): F (Fredrick) Crews |
||||||||
| 2 | DARYL BOKO FIN | $ 9,000 | Fr1 | 1 | Tim Butt | Anthony Butt | 5.30 | $ 2.20 fav |
| 3 | WAR DAN DESTROYER | $ 6,000 | Fr2 | 2 | Michael Doltoff | Luke McCarthy | 14.60 | $ 33.00 |
| 4 | KYVALLEY BLUR USA | $ 3,000 | Fr8 | 9 | Brent Lilley | Chris Alford | 20.80 | $ 4.70 |
| 5 | IONA GRINNER | $ 2,000 | Fr6 | 6 | Troy Williams | Robert Morris | 27.60 | $ 91.60 |
| 6 | ROMPERS MONARCHY NZ | $ 1,000 | Fr5 | 5 | J A Rando, M J Rando | David Morris | 27.70 | $ 108.10 |
| 7 | VINCENNES | $ 1,000 | Fr10 | 12 | Anton Golino | Jason Lee | 28.20 | $ 12.30 |
| 8 | MY TRIBECA ITA | $ 1,000 | Fr7 | 7 | Anton Golino | Nathan Jack | 46.30 | $ 8.40 |
| 9 | ON THUNDER ROAD NZ | $ 1,000 | Fr3 | 3 | Darren Hancock | Darren Hancock | 51.20 | $ 6.80 |
| 10 | BLAZING UNDER FIRE NZ | $ 1,000 | Fr9 | 11 | Blake Fitzpatrick | Blake Fitzpatrick | 343.40 | $ 95.70 |
It was the perfect warm-up drive for the Miracle Mile later in the evening.
Yet even birthday boy Todd McCarthy could hardly have expected to set an Australasian harness racing record with a stunning all-the-way win on Maori Time rating 1:51.5 in the Access Group Solutions Trotters Mile.
Todd, who turns 25 today, took Maori Time straight to the front in the Group One and basically just made them chase him all the way, breaking Flying Isa's record of 1:53.2 in scoring by five and a quarter metres from Daryl Boko with War Dan Destroyer a fast-finishing third.
It makes Maori Time the fastest square-gaiter this country has ever seen.
"He ran a fantastic race and I couldn't ask for anything more than setting a record like this . . . it's pretty special," said Todd.
Ironically the previous record was set by Todd's big brother Luke but nothing could be taken away from the Brent Lilley-trained Victorian visitor who got out of the mobile in a 26.8 split before Todd was able to back the speed off slightly with a 29.4 second quarter.
Then Todd put the handlebars down and came away from his rivals with splits of 27s and 28.3 for a win that the legions of square-gaiting fans could only have dreamt about a few years ago.
Menangle was on fire and Todd admitted he was champing at the bit for a repeat performance when he hops behind Tiger Tara later in the night in the $750,000 Ainsworth Miracle Mile.
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