ADORE ME PACES 1:47.7 (1609m) IN LADYSHIP MILE
If Natalie Rasmussen set out to make Tabcorp Park Menangle her own today (March 1, 2015) with three successive winners, she was overshadowed by one of the greatest pacers ever seen in the Southern Hemisphere.
. . . And one of the greatest race-winning performances ever witnessed at the south-western Sydney track.
Adore Me wins the Ladyship Mile in 1:47.7 at Menangle. Photo: NSWHRC.
Champion New Zealand mare Adore Me simply blew her rivals away with a record-breaking 1:47.7 victory in the Cordina Chicken Farms Ladyship Mile, smashing Smoken Up’s record by eight-tenths of a second.
She became the fastest mare in the world . . . yes, the world, breaking a record set by Somwherovrarainbow at Pocono Downs in the US in 2014 at 1:48.
(Adore Me’s time is the Australasian & world’s fastest for a 1400m or seven furlongs size track. Somwerovarainbow ran her fast mile on the 1000m, or five furlongs track, at Pocono Downs. The actual world’s fastest mile by a female pacer is 1:47 by Shethebestingin as a 3YO filly on the full 1609m, or mile track, at The Red Mile at Lexington, Kentucky, in the USA, in 2013. The world’s fastest by an aged mare on a mile track is Put on A Show’s 1:47.3 at The Meadowlands, New Jersey, in the USA in 2012. Clarification by site editor).
Sitting outside of second favourite Frith, Adore Me smashed the track record set in 2011 and won the hearts of the massive crowd at Menangle for the TAB.COM.AU Inter Dominion Grand Final.
They began applauding Adore Me as she surged away in the straight to win as she liked.
Rasmussen won three of the first four races on the big day but even she had to admit she was in awe of Adore Me’s performance as she put paid to Beauty Secret, Latteron and Frith by an amazing 18 and a half metres. Remember, these are the best mares in Australasia!
“This is the first time I have sat behind Adore Me in race conditions and she is so beautifully-gaited and has such a great temperament – and she goes like a machine,” Rasmussen said as she accepted the trophy from sponsor John Cordina.
Rasmussen’s partner, leading trainer Mark Purdon, was happy to step aside for a driver that connections rate among the best drivers in the world.
And Rasmussen showed why, putting Adore Me into the 1609m event early in the piece and declaring Australia’s best mare Frith on for the lead in a lightning second quarter of 26.9 for an opening half of 54 seconds.
She finished the race off with her last two quarters in 27.2s and 26.5s to set a record that will live long in the memory of all who were at Menangle on Sunday.
(OUR) SKY MAJOR WINS CHARIOTS OF FIRE
You could never call trainer Barry Purdon and reinsman Zac Butcher “lesser lights”
Yet these two emerged from the shadows of trainer Mark Purdon and champion Kiwi reinsman Dexter Dunn to win the $200,000 Form 700 Chariots Of Fire with Our Sky Major.
Big brother Barry took home a feature as well as his younger brother Mark while Butcher showed why he was almost as highly-rated as Dunn with a dashing display to win with Our Sky Major.
The feature race for four-year-olds is one of the highlights of the TAB.COM.AU Inter Dominion Grand Final day and Our Sky Major made it even more special for the Kiwis – who were on a roll in the races leading up to the Inter Dom.
While $3 favourite Bling It On worked to the front early doors, Butcher refused to panic with Our Sky Major, despite racing without cover for most of the 1609m.
Turning for home Butcher quickly put Our Sky Major into the hunt and could afford several sustained looks over his shoulder to check how his rivals were doing back in the field. He knew he had Bling It On covered as the son of Art Major raced away to win handsomely in a slick 1:51.5 mile rate.
“Barry has stuck by me in these big races and it’s nice to take some cash home to New Zealand,” grinned the effervescent Butcher after scoring a 2.6m win.
HANCOCK DRAWS FIRST BLOOD
Inter Dominion Grand Final Day has been good to Pheasants Nest mentor Darren Hancock over the years.
He won the Inter Dominion with Jofess at Gloucester Park back in 2004.
And since the series has been back on his home soil for the last three years, Hancock continues to be prominent.
Last year he took out the Ladyship Mile with Vansumic and today he supplied the first two winners on the Inter Dominion program when Global View and Ive Gotta Life scored.
Global View set the scene when driven by Kiwi reinsman Dexter Dunn in the Slingsby Holdings World Driving Championship Heat.
Dunn had an unbeatable lead in the series and secured the Championship with a well-timed run on Global View, with the pair crossing the line with more than six metres to spare on Heza Thrill and Spanish driver Guillermo Adrover which finished second.
A race later it was up to one of Australasia’s best reinswomen in Natalie Rasmussen to get the Hancock-trained Ive Gottalife home in the Lexus International Lady Drivers Invitational.
The gelding rated a career best 1:50.7 to beat Saloon Passage and driver Narissa McMullen, the defending champion of the race.
Courtesy of Sean Vella, NSWHRC