WHEN Expensive Ego lined up in the first of Wednesday night's Inter Dominion Pacing Championship heats at Bathurst Paceway some felt that the question wasn't going to be 'if' he would beat the track record but 'by how much?' instead.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But even if you belonged to that latter camp it would be hard not to be blown off your seat by what Belinda and Luke McCarthy's Chariots Of Fire champion did.
Expensive Ego ($1.70 favourite) produced stunning quarters of 27.7, 28.3, 28.6 and 26.3 to become the new Bathurst Paceway 1,730 metre mile rate record holder with a 1:50.6.
The time obliterates the previous best mile rate of 1:52.1, set by Anntonia during this year's Gold Crown Carnival series.
An awkward gate seven draw meant finding victory wasn't going to be a cakewalk for Expensive Ego in Wednesday's heat but things couldn't have played out much better for the champion son of Rock N Roll Heaven.
READ ALSO:
Former Bathurst-based driver Luke McCarthy gained the perfect trail to the front of the field on Expensive Ego thanks to a covered three-wide move behind Amanda Turnbull's home hope Ellmers Image.
Once Expensive Ego hit the lead with 800 metres to go he was about to show that he had a lot left in the tank.
Expensive Ego produced a performance never seen before at Bathurst Paceway to win by eight metres over Triple Eight ($6, Greg Sugars) and The Black Prince ($18, Robbie Morris).
"He did it on his ear to be honest. He's come back from the run and he wouldn't even blow a candle out. His heart rate is really good. We're super excited after that.
"You've got to be mindful that we've got to back up in five days for Newcastle on another road trip. I think he may have even had a little bit left in the tank at the end."
The great times continued for the McCarthy camp when Spirit Of St Louis ($7, Luke McCarthy) dashed home down the outside to narrowly win the second of the night's Inter Dominion Pacing heats over stablemate Alta Orlando ($5, Jack Callaghan).
Spirit Of St Louis' victory was arguably the gutsiest of the lot in the McCarthy stable's clean sweep of the heats, given he had to spend the entire last lap three wide and battling the breeze.
"He's a newer one to our stable and he just keeps on getting better and better," Belinda McCarthy said.
"For him to sit three wide and then keep going to win it is amazing. Alta Orlando is a beautiful horse and I actually didn't think he'd be able to run him down.
"He's got a lot of bottom to him and he's showing that. We always thought he was a better sit-sprinter but he just led that three wide pack up and still won it."
The winning mile rate was 1:54.4.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News