STAR Tasmania pacer Ignatius has set another track record and this time it was at least an Australasian best for a three-year-old.
Ignatius led throughout to win a heat of the Australasian Breeders Crown series at Menangle on Tuesday with his mile rate of 1.53.5 over the 2300-metre trip shattering the previous best set by Sushi Sushi and The Black Prince (1.54.1) by six-tenths of a second.
The James Rattray-trained gelding led and set scintillating sections coming home his last 800 metres in 56 seconds.
According to Rattray there was a helicopter parked in the centre of the arena and he was frightened it might break his stable star’s concentration so he placed a racing hood over the horse’s head but that only led to the three-year-old becoming “fired up”.
“Putting the hood on sort of back-fired but he did a great job all the same.”
Ignatius had scored by 15 metres at his previous outing in the final of the Group 1 Breeders Challenge series which he won by 15 metres and hard-held but on Tuesday the winning margin was only 2-1/2 metres ahead of Royal Gamble.
“The margin might not have been as big as in previous wins but he still did it comfortably and there was a bit in reserve.”
Rattray said he would wait and see how the horse pulls up before deciding whether he needs another run before tackling the Breeders Crown semi-final at Bendigo in Victoria on August 18 with the final to be run at Tabcorp Park, Melton, the following week.
