Pinto Pacing Derby takes centre stage

Belfast, NI – The Northern Irish Standardbred Association (NISA), the officially recognized governing body for the sport of harness racing in the region, will stage their fifth meeting of the 2022 season at Racetime Raceway on Saturday (July 22) and a record attendance is expected to converge on the venue to witness one of the highlights of the British and UK calendars, the Pinto Pacing Derby.

All four runners in this event are either skewbald or piebald and will be bringing a real splash of colour to Racetime and although It’s not anticipated that the world record for a mile (p,4,1:56.8 by White Flame set in Dublin in 2015 will be eclipsed on the day, it’s within the realms of possibility that a sub 2-minute mile could be on the cards.

Big Pete (Table The Nukes) the current reigning Irish champion pinto pacer will go to post a warm order favorite for Damien Mooney and the eight-year-old has been performing with great credit against traditional bay/black pacers all season without actually getting his head in front when it mattered. A winner of this event in 2021, he is primed for another big performance but there are three younger pretenders in the lineup who will go all out to steal his crown.

Of these, White Dollar is arguably the most interesting – being by former UK and Ireland track record holder Forafewdollarsmore who has been a siring sensation in recent seasons. The pinto in this instance comes from the dam Snow White who was unraced.

Another boasting intriguing bloodlines is The Bees Kneez, a colt by the ill-fated Ants Inhis Pants p3, 1:57.8. Imported from Australia in 2016, the world record holder by McArdle out of Frilly Knickers passed away unexpectedly after only 2 seasons at stud in Ireland and his limited progeny have really started to impress on the track over the past year or so.

Completing the line-up is Big Rick who is by the unraced pinto sire Hangover and that bloodline goes back to Keltic Boss out of UFO a Squirter mare who herself was a top race mare for Neville Martin in the 1990s. UFO harks back to Alec MacDonalds mare Little Flyer who was a champion in the late 1970s/early 1980s, so the lineage just exudes quality.

Whomever out of the four participants emerges victorious on the day it promises to be a phenomenal spectacle to witness the strikingly marked pacers in full stride battling down the homestretch at Racetime and patrons are guaranteed to go home on a high from the venue.

Kindly sponsored by Northern Mortgages this contest carries this richest purse so far in 2022 and although the winners bank balance will receive a nice healthy boost, it will be the bragging rights of having the best pinto pacer in the UK and Ireland that is the ultimate prize on this occasion.

Pinto breeding and racing has experienced a resurgence all over the harness racing world and although Australia and the UK/Ireland remain strongholds for these unusually marked standardbreds there have been inroads made recently in Europe namely Sweden and the US. Jakarta Partygirl (Googoo Gaagga) is the new queen of the pinto breed and the trotter recently won in 1:58.2 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono (13th July) with the promise of more to come from the Swedish bred import. Jakarta Partygirl is now the fastest pinto female in the history of the sport – pacer or trotter.

Kentucky based trainer Gary Campbell is currently priming Takemetothebeach for his US debut and the colt is by world record holder White Flame p,4, 1:56.8 out of Meadowland Melody (Hasty Hall/Rebacrombie/Abercrombie).

White Flame paced to his world record back in 2015 in Dublin, Ireland and he is by Mystical Shark (Cams Card Shark) out of Pan Ala Vodka a 2002 US import by Western Hanover. Set to race in in the coming weeks, it will be interesting see how the colt fares but hes been training down well and is on course to turn heads when he finally makes a splash, literally!

Pinto breeding reached its zenith just over a month ago when the first Cattlewash bred coloured pacer foaled for Dubliner Clive Cullen. Registered as Airlie Beach, the filly is out of Sweet Lilyfire which in turn is bred by Sweet Lou out of a full sister to White Flame.

Such regal bloodlines and heavy investment in using the fastest pacers in the world to infuse with pinto mares will ensure that these remarkable standardbreds will only enhance the bloodline over the next decade. It’s only a matter of time that a pinto bred either wins a significant stakes race or paces sub 1:50 and that day is coming.

Action from Racetime starts at 3:00 pm on Saturday and all patrons are welcome.

From Racetime Raceway