Ride High raises the bar

By Adam Hamilton

EX-PAT Aussie Shane Tritton said Ride High reminds him of the great Christian Cullen and he’s sure he would hold his own anything in the world.

Tritton, who is making a real splash in the US after making it home earlier this year, said Ride High’s track record-smashing 1min49sec flat for 1650m at Bendigo last night would equate to at least 1min47sec in the US.

“That’s as close to Christian Cullen’s Miracle Mile run I’ve ever seen,” Tritton said.

“I have no doubt in my mind the tracks and carts are two seconds quicker over here. One of the best (US) pacers went 1min47.2sec over the mile on a 1000m track the other day (here) and broke the track record.

“Ride High would’ve matched that on what I saw tonight and he looks like he isn’t flat out. And he sat outside them.

“From what I’ve seen, they need to put a plan in place to get him to The Meadowlands (New Jersey) in the next 12 months.

“We might see something the world has never seen before.”

Ride High’s 14th win from just 15 starts was his most mind-blowing yet.

He drew the back row, came three wide around to sit parked at the 1200m, crushed the leader Sirletic and was nursed to the line for the 100m or so to win by 21.4sec.

His 1min49sec mile rate for 1650m (not a mile) was a staggering 2.7sec inside the precious track record. And he appeared to have plenty of petrol left in the tank.

Trainer Clayton Tonkin and driver Kima Frenning have been telling us after each win this campaign that Ride High is just warming-up and the best is yet to come. They were right.

“There’s been a bit of talk about ‘he hasn’t beaten a lot’ and ‘he still has a lot to prove’ … I think he just did that,” Frenning told Trots Vision after the win.

Tonkin added: “We knew he had that in him. For all the great horses we’ve had, this guy is out of the box. Something very special.

“If I didn’t have Ride High and know what he was capable of, I didn’t think I’d ever see a horse run that time at Bendigo and be eased down the last bit.”

Ride High’s cruised to four wins from as many runs on the comeback trail from a throat operation and now boasts nine wins on end.

Tonkin plans to stick his model of racing Ride High every fortnight, meaning his next run will be at Shepparton on August 15.

That’s Lochinvar Art’s home track.

Lochinvar Art is likely to chase second wins from as many runs back from a spell at Ballarat next Saturday night.

Would his trainer-driver David Moran back him up a week later against Ride High at Shepparton?

With talk of a match-race subsiding, let’s hope they meet in a race very soon, maybe even Shepparton on August 15.

“Peter (Gleeson, Ride High’s owner-breeder) isn’t keen on a match-race, certainly not unless they put up some really serious money, so we’ll just stick to racing him every second week,” Tonkin said.

“The problem is I don’t think they’ll run the Victoria Cup on October 10 with the way things are in Victoria, so there’s nothing big to set him for in the next couple of months at least.”