Simsfield Hardtimes sets season’s fastest

Aaron Sims’s harness racing pony lit up the Bermuda track in the opening heat of the Free for All en route to posting the season’s fastest time and a new personal best. Racing off the rail, Hardtimes ran a blistering 1:02/3 to shave a full second off his previous personal best, which he equalled during the New Year’s Day stakes races.

His time was also one fifth of a second slower than the gelding’s track record held by Cherokee’s Ironman (1:02/2), who had held the season’s fastest time of 1:03/1 prior to the last race day.

“He’s a very nice horse who I think has a lot of potential,” said Phillip Correia, who steered Sims’s horse to the season’s fastest time and a new personal best.

“It was a good time but I think there’s room for improvement and hopefully we can better it over time. We know the horse is going to be fast. He’s an up and coming horse who I’m hoping doesn’t stop here.”

For added measure, Sims’s other horse Double Time equalled the Bermuda-bred mare’s record, established by Justin Paynter’s Time After Time over five years ago, while competing in the Free for All. However, she was not alone as Inwood Stable’s Reel Patrol matched the feat competing in the same division later on.

“The times seemed fast for the day and during her warm-up Andrea [Westerfield] said she was feeling really good, so we had high hopes for a good time since she was on the rail,” Ashley Peniston, Reel Patrol’s owner said. “Of course she did not let us down. We are just over midway through this season, which is Reel Patrol’s four-year-old season. She has blown our expectations out of the water and we look forward to finishing the season on a high note with her and Andrea.”

Double Time and Reel Patrol’s times were also personal bests. Also setting personal best times were Colin Mello’s mare Pocket De Gold (1:03/2) and Andy Stoneham’s stallion Custard the Dragon (1:03/4) — both in the Free for All — as well as Hang em High Stables’s Rock On (1:07/1) in the 1:11 and slower division.

Colin Thompson