It’s the middle of February, and while a large majority of North American horsepeople are scraping ice off their vehicles, Standardbreds on the track have been heating things up as of late. That has been exemplified by the two world record performances that have already been clocked this week alone.
The first of the record miles took place on Monday (February 12) at Northfield Park in Ohio, where the Dan Ater-trained and Aaron Merriman-driven Cimeronken stepped to a gate-to-wire 1:53.2 during the track’s $14,000 Open Trot.
After a Post 4 start, the nine-year-old son of Ken Warkentin cut the fractions in :27.3, :57.1 and 1:25.2 and kicked home with a 28-second final quarter in what was a one and three-quarter-length win.
Cimeronken’s 1:53.2 win etched his name into the world record book, as the time equalled the global mark for aged trotting geldings on a half-mile track (he has joined Quick Deal and Obrigado in the category).
On Tuesday (February 13), the Rick Plano-trained and driven Sooo Handsome lowered his own trotting world record at Pompano Park in south Florida.
Sooo Handsome participated in a race that was contested at a distance of five-eighths of a mile over Pompano’s five-eighths of a mile track. The five-year-old Cash Hall gelding left from Post 1, cut the fractions (:27.2, :55.2), and nailed the wire much the best in 1:09.
The time shaved three-fifths of a second off Sooo Handsome’s existing record for the category, which had just been recorded last week.
"He did it very easily tonight,” Plano said after he chrage’s second consecutive world record mile. “You know, he's a very good-gaited horse and he's very handy, so all I did was ask him for a bit early and he gave it to me. He was on cruise control the whole way.
"He's very fond of Florida and loves this weather. It's especially gratifying because he's a homebred and we have had him since day one."
(With files from Pompano Park)