Plainridge: Manchego adds another world record to her haul in Spirit Of Massachusetts romp

Manchego, already harness racing's fastest female trotter ever by virtue of her 1:49 mile last fall at The Red Mile, lowered her own world record for a female trotter on a five-eighths-mile track to 1:49 3/5 in taking Sunday afternoon's $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts for free-for-allers at Plainridge Park. That clocking also gave her another world record, that being the fastest aged mare trotter on a five-eighths-mile oval.

On paper this race was supposed to be another tilt between Manchego (Dexter Dunn, post four) and Atlanta (Yannick Gingras, post seven), and the two great mares lined up first and second, with Dunn hustling Manchego to the top in a dazzling 25 2/5 opening quarter. The tempo remained blistering after that as well, as Manchego hit the half in 53 3/5 and the three-quarters in 1:21.

Gingras angled Atlanta two-wide coming off the far turn to take a shot at Manchego, but there was no catching the pace-setter today, as a 28 3/5 final kicker sealed the 2 1/2 length victory. Run Director (David Miller) was up for third, with Lindy The Great (Andy Miller) fourth and Joey Bats (Andrew McCarthy) back in fifth.

The 1:49 3/5 clocking erased Manchego's own world record of 1:50 1/5 for a female trotter of any age on a five-eighths-mile track set last September at Hollywood Dayton when she was a 4-year-old and eclipsed Daylon Miracle's aged mare world record of 1:50 3/5 taken in September 2015 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.

Nancy Takter trains Manchego, a 5-year-old daughter of Muscle Hill, for owner Black Horse Racing. Manchego now has a record of 31-5-2 from 48 career starts, and she has put away $2,342,705. She was the 1-2 favorite and returned $3.00 to win.