Captain Ravishing could be better than Ride High

He’s got the freaky speed traits of the horse who last got the harness racing world in a frenzy, and Captain Ravishing (Captaintreacherous) might be even better according to a man who has had the privilege of sitting behind them both.

Mark Pitt drove the exhilarating Ride High to four of his 16 wins as the Clayton Tonkin and Emma Stewart-trained pacer smashed records and broke rivals’ hearts in a brilliant but short-lived career through 2018 to 2020.

And now Pitt’s at the controls of another pacer from the same barn who is creating a very familiar hype.

“They were similar,” Pitt says. “They both have a lot of speed and strength as well, but I think Captain Ravishing might be a little bit better than Ride High.

“It’s a hard one because they’re both great horses, but at this point of their careers I really think Captain Ravishing has a lot more speed than Ride High.”

The lofty expectations of Captain Ravishing have been there for some time, but it was his debut run for the Cardigan stable of Stewart and Tonkin in September that really put his name in lights.

He obliterated a handy field of rivals at Ballarat, carving out one of the quickest final quarters on record (25.1sec) while winning by more than 30 metres.

Pitt was having his first drive of the horse, but “wasn’t surprised”.

“He’d always shown good form and that he could be potentially a very good horse,” he said.

“Clayton had said to me ‘you’ll need a seatbelt on this one’ and he was right.”

Captain Ravishing put the exclamation mark on a brilliant 2022 campaign when he smashed the Melton 2240m record – from outside the leader on a rain-affected track – while winning the Group 1 Breeders Crown Series final for three-year-old colts and geldings on November 19.

He’s been freshened since, with a scintillating trial at Ballarat last week appearing to have him primed for a long-awaited return in tonight’s Cogs Services 4YO Bonanza.

The Group 2 feature is a major support race on this evening’s Del-Re National A. G. Hunter Cup card and gives the winner a ticket into the Group 1 Chariots of Fire in Sydney later this month.

Captain Ravishing is the $1.20 favourite to stretch his record to nine wins from 13 starts, but he may be forced to do it the tradesman’s way from barrier five over the 1720m sprint trip.

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue if we do have to park him up. There is pretty big wraps on the one horse (Invitation Only), but it’d want to be pretty good to beat Captain Ravishing,” Pitt said.

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by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria