Ride High wins easily again

by Adam Hamilton

There were no records, but still plenty of wow factor.

Ride High, one of the most exciting horses in this part of the world, blazed his way to another sparkling win at Melton last night.

It was his second easy win from as many runs on the comeback trail and his 12th win from just 13 lifetime starts.

When he won first-up two weeks earlier, Ride High’s 52.7sec last half was the fastest ever officially run around Melton. It was capped by a 25.8sec closing quarter.

This time he went a quicker mile rate for 1720m – 1min50.8sec compared to 1min51.6sec first-up – but driver Kima Frenning “nursed” him home through splits of 53.6 and 26.7sec.

He coasted to a 12.8m win over Courageous Saint, who led early then took a trail on Ride High.

His 1min50.8sec mile rate was the third fastest run for the 1720m at Melton, but still well short of the remarkable 1min48.6sec Lochinvar Art went beating Self Assured in the 4YO Bonanza earlier this year.

Kima Frenning was oozing superlatives after driving Ride High for the first time in his comeback win and it was no different last night.

“It’s a real privilege to drive a horse like him. He really is a once-in-a-lifetime horse and to be able to say I won two races on him is pretty special,” Frenning told Trots Vision.

“I said to (trainer) Clayton (Tonkin) before the race ‘do you want me to pull the plugs and see how fast he can go?

“It’s scary to think he’s untapped still. It’s pretty freaky. He does this in second gear.

“He’s a real professional, he knows where the line is and he knows what he has to race. I’m sure there was plenty more there.”

Tonkin said he now had some thinking to do.

“We’ve got through these couple of runs and now it’s time to map out the way to have him really primed for the Victoria Cup (October 10),” he said.

With Lochinvar Art not too far away, Victorians could be in for some awesome clashes between Australia’s two most exciting pacers in the countdown to the Victoria Cup.