SUPERSTAR pacer Smoken Up didn’t just break the 1720 metre record at Tabcorp Park in Melton on Saturday night – he smashed it to smithereens!
His trainer Lance Justice elected to bypass the rich Hunter Cup in protest at the handicap mark he had been allotted and while it produced a win and another track record it was a shame not to see him race against the best.
Piloted this time by the trainer’s brother John Justice, the star’s third driver in as many runs, as usual Smoken Up ($1.20 fav,) looked to be labouring rounding the home turn as the smart Decorated Jasper ($6.70) edged a couple of metres clear.
But in his standard style Smoken Up straightened up, balanced and moved forward to go neck and neck before drawing clear in the closing stages to win by 4.1 metres over Decorated Jasper with Stirling Charming ($34.40) a futther six metres away third.
Smoken Up stopped the clock with a record mile rate of a remarkable 1:51.1 sec., clearly the fastest time set at Tabcorp Park in it’s short history.
It adds to his record time the he holds for the 2240 metres at the circuit.
It was Smoken Up’s 57th win from 107 race starts and he is quickly approaching $3,000,000 in stake earnings..
The win atoned for his disappointing (for him!) third behind Highview Tommy and Sushi Sushi in the Ballarat Cup a week earlier.
His trainer expressed his thoughts of the Ballarat track on his Facebook page after that race when he blamed the lack of camber on the turns for the defeat.
