Stunning win by Have Faith In Me

Harness racing looks to have a budding superstar in the form of this years outstanding three year old, Have Faith In Me.

This years Muscara Standardbreds New Zealand Derby at Addington in Christchurch was expected to be a two horse battle between Follow The Stars and Have Faith In Me and thats exactly how it turned out.

Brilliant Strike led out from barrier one for Ricky May but handed up after 250 metres to Follow The Stars and Mark Purdon.

The rest of the field were in single file with Have Faith In Me five back on the inner.

With 1700 metres to run Itz Bettor To Win moved out into the running line and Have Faith In Me was straight onto his back in the one by one.

With 1200 metres to go Tim Williams hooked the full brother to Adore Me out of the one by one and went up and sat parked on the wheel of Follow The Stars.

The two went together all the way to the straight where Have Faith In Me just ran straight past Follow The Stars and strolled to what seemed an effortless victory by 1 3/4 lengths from a gallant Follow The Stars with another 1 3/4 lengths back to Brilliant Strike in third.

The son of Bettor's Delight paced the 2600 metres from the mobile in chilly conditions in a very quick 3:09.2, a mile rate of 1:57 with closing sectionals of 55 and 27.4.

That broke the New Zealand record held by Classiesistar by one tenth of a second and broke the race record held by Auckland Reactor by two tenths of a second.

And believe it or not, when Have Faith In Me came back to the birdcage, the ear plugs were still in.

Tim Williams was a happy man speaking to Harnesslink post race.

" I came out and sat parked because I wanted to get handy before the speed really went on."

" He actually got to the front really easily and won with a bit in hand." 

" He knocked off when he got to the front tonight or else he would have won by a bit more, " Tim said.

Tim thinks we haven't seen the best of Have Faith In Me yet.

" He still a big kid really so there is plenty of upside with him yet," Tim said.

Mark Purdon was more than happy with Follow The Stars.

" He has gone super but the other horse just has his measure at the moment."

" My horse has run time and stuck on great but it hasn't been good enough," Mark said.

Ricky May was shaking his head post race with the run of Brilliant Strike.

" My horse has gone super but just when I thought I was going to join in on the corner, the other two got away from me."

" I couldn't ask anything more of my horse but it just shows you how good you have to be these days, " Ricky said.

Trained by Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen, Have Faith In Me continues to go from strength to strength and looks a horse with a huge future.

Harnesslink Media