Tasmania’s star three-year-old Ignatius obliterated the Penrith track-record on Thursday night with a sensational harness racing victory in his heat of the Alabar NSW Breeders Challenge.
The Roll With Joe-Ashkalini gelding, owned by Lyrae Grahan and trained by James Rattray, made it seven straight wins this season with an astonishing 14.7-metre victory, returning a mile rate of 1:53.6.
“The run was something special, to run those times around Penrith after he had done all the work in the death was pretty amazing,” said a highly impressed James.
“He travelled sensationally in the run and it was just a matter of allowing him a little more rein inside the 400-metre pole he just accelerated beyond belief and left them standing, he was full of running in the home stretch and I eased him down near the post, he was never fully extended and still smashed the track record.”
Blake Fitzpatrick and Jim Douglas combined to bring about the demise of odds-on favourite The Bus ($1.60) with Bracken Sky in Heat Two of the Series, but a sobering thought for connections, the time recorded was an incredible three seconds slower than the Tassie champ.
“He’s now won 12 of 13 starts and I will be talking with Todd and Lyrae about what the future holds, at the moment though we are just concentrating on and looking forward to the Final of the Breeders Challenge, then it’s more than likely we will tackle the Breeders Crown,” said an excited trainer.
“He’s flying at the moment and its great to know everyone at home gets a thrill out of him winning as well, as they did when Beautide was at his peak.”
By Shane Yates