First Group winner for Raging Bull

Raging Bull's first winner is now his first Group Race winner. Bare Knuckle put a month's worth of unlucky runs behind her when she made her Australian harness racing debut a winning one at Tabcorp Park Menangle last Saturday night.

Sent out favourite in the #30,000 J L Raith Memorial, Bare Knuckle won the Group 3 mile event in quite sensational fashion because she paced roughly for a brief period at the start and gave away any advantage she'd had by drawing three behind the mobile.

Settling last of the eight-horse field after that, Bare Knuckle remained there until well inside the 600m point when Natalie Rasmussen pulled off a piece of pure driving genius – shooting up the inside to a position three-deep, then using the camber of the final bend to come through between her rivals swinging for home.

It meant Bare Knuckle was quickly into a position to pounce from, and that she did, steaming home centre track to win the event 'going away' by nearly four metres.

With the four sectionals of the mile zipping by in 26.9, 29.5, 27.6 and 27.5, Bare Knuckle stopped the clock at a sizzling 1:51.5 – but with how much of a start she was giving her rivals as the halfway point came and went, Bare Knuckle must've also paced her final 800 metres in close to 54 seconds to get home.

It was an emphatic example of the Raging Bull filly's sheer speed, something which Rasmussen and co-trainer Mark Purdon have always rated about her.

Bare Knuckle's 1:51.5 mile was just two-tenths of a second outside the fastest mile recorded by a 3-year-old filly on Australian soil, an honour which just happens to belong to her illustrious stablemate Partyon who achieved the accolade in the exact same event last season.