Simsfield Hardtimes’s reign at the top proved to be short-lived as rival Cherokee’s Ironman regained bragging rights at Vesey Street at the weekend.

Arnold Manders’s Indiana-bred gelding obliterated the season’s fastest time, which Hardtimes set the previous race day after posting a 1:02 flat racing off the rail in his second heat in the Free for All.

Ironman’s time also shaved two fifths of a second off of the gelding’s record, which he already held and was one fifth of a second shy of the overall track record of 1:01/4, set by Colin Mello’s retired stud Big Red Machine in 2012.

“I knew he was primed and ready to go,” Manders said.

“A lot of people forget he used to be the fastest two and three-year-old in history on most of the tracks in Indiana, so he’s got the speed.

“It just took a while for him to adjust to the track here because it’s a little smaller than the one he is used to, but now he seems to have got it down. It [gelding’s record] was due for Darico [Clarke] driving him because it took a while for them to get used to each other, but it seems like it’s coming together right now. They looked good yesterday in both heats.”

Ironman has not enjoyed the luck of the draw to determine track positions in recent times.

“He has been in the middle in most of his races lately having to run two or three wide to win and doing times of 1:03/2 and 1:03/1 coming from behind,” Manders said. “So I know when he gets the rail he’s going to go faster, and that’s just mathematics because on the outside you are running a further distance.”

Manders’s horse captured the coveted Triple Crown comprised of the Best Three, Boxing Day Stakes and Champion of Champions titles last season to become only the third pony behind Speedtime and Big Red Machine to achieve the extraordinary feat.

Ironman also set last season’s fastest time of 1:02/2, which had stood as the gelding’s record until Sunday.