Ride High may have changed the Australian pacing landscape with an audacious performance in tonight’s Vale Rod Osborne Pace, blazing home in a 52.7-second last half to record a stunning first up win.
Race caller Dan Mielicki was running out of superlatives to thrust on to the Clayton Tonkin trained five-year-old, who produced an 11th win in only his 12th start.
“He has absolutely demolished them,” called Mielicki, as Ride High rattled home in 25.7 seconds to win in a 1:51.6 mile rate, despite a regulation first half over the short distance. “Now listen to this it’s going to blow you away … the last half-mile (52.7), wow. That’s as fast as I’ve ever heard.”
In her first steer of the Art Major entire out of All The Magic, Kima Frenning comfortably guided the short-priced favourite to the front and when she allowed him to run for the last half he proved in a class of his own.
“That was just ridiculous,” Frenning said. “How easy he did that, how good he is. Still untapped, that was pretty cool.
“It makes me a bit emotional. As a junior driver to get an opportunity to drive a horse like this. Obviously when you get on you just don’t want to stuff up, that’s what makes me a bit scared. It’s super cool. I can’t thank Emma (Stewart) and Clayton enough, they have done so much for me and been unreal. They’re awesome.”
Frenning said as electrifying as Ride High was he still had plenty of improvement left in him, having been lightly raced, unchallenged and first-up since December.
“I was just a passenger down the back. He’s just such a professional,” she said. “He just knows when to go. I couldn’t hold him any slower down the back, when I let him rip he did that pretty easy.
“I didn’t pull anything. He probably just knocked off a little bit because he didn’t have anything to race. He’s so competitive and such a professional, if he had something to race I’d be scared to see what he could do in the last quarter.”
RELIVE RIDE HIGH’S SCINTILLATING LAST HALF COURTESY OF TROTS VISION:
