An Ultimate night

He had two of the favourites heading into the Breeders Challenge Semi-Finals at Menangle on Saturday but harness racing trainer Jarrod Alchin got more than that.

Alchin and his driver Cameron Hart dominated the two-year-old features winning three of the four $20,000 qualifiers.

It all started with a minor upset when My Ultimate Ronnie zoomed past the favourite Smaltese to win effortlessly by more than five metres.

The son of Bettors Delight clocked a personal best 1:50.4 in the process – the fastest win of the night and just one-tenth of a second outside the Australasian two-year-old mile record.

It was then My Ultimate Byron’s time to shine, and that he did!

The son of Somebeachsomewhere remained unbeaten in seven starts and also rated a personal best 1:50.9.

Leading throughout from barrier one, My Ultimate Byron extended his earnings past $100,000 to $114,616.

A race later, Alchin and Hart were back in the winners’ circle.

This time with talented filly Madrid who found the lead out of barrier seven and remained there.

In a tactical drive by Hart, he locked away his main danger Miss Ex, which was stalking the pair, and a final quarter of 26.4 seconds was what it took to seal the deal.

Madrid, a daughter of Bling It On, also produced a personal best 1:52.3 making her the fastest two-year-old filly in Australia this season.

In fact, the efforts of her stablemates on Saturday night made My Ultimate Ronnie the fastest two-year-old in the country this season and My Ultimate Byron the second-fastest of that age group.

The other Breeders Challenge Semi-Final was taken out by the Russell Jack-trained Captains Queen.

Hart drove five winners on the program, also winning with Rocknlachlan earlier in the night.

To view all the Menangle results from Saturday night click here.

By Amanda Rando for Harnesslink