Simsfield Stables laid down another marker after lowering the season’s fastest time, which they already owned, at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre at the weekend.

Aaron Sims’s gelding Simsfield Hardtimes tore up the track with a blistering 1:03/3, which was two fifths of a second faster than the season’s best time of 1:04 flat achieved by his four-year-old Bermuda-bred mare Double Time the previous race day.

“I was so pleased with him, only the second race day out and doing a 1:03/3 already which is good,” Sims said.

“The track was fast, but I didn’t think he would do as fast a time because of the humidity, which was really high.

“So far, he has dropped a second every race day. He went 1:05/2 on the fun night, 1:04/2 on the first race night and 1:03/3 on the second race night, so it’s looking like it’s going to hopefully be a good year.”

Simsfield Hardtimes’s time was a second slower than his personal best and was achieved in the fourth heat of the Free for All, reserved for the fastest ponies, with experienced driver Philip Correia in the bike during Saturday night’s racing at Vesey Street.

The gelding’s track record stands at 1:02 flat and is held by Arnold Manders’s pony Cherokee’s Ironman.

“Last year [Simsfield Hardtimes] set the fastest time of the year, which was 1:02/3 and then Ironman came and beat it in a 1:02 flat,” Sims added.

“The gelding track record is not far away. It’s within striking distance so we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Sims believes that the hard work he has been putting in with his pony during the off-season is beginning to pay off. I have put in a lot of time over the summer jogging him,” he said.

“I have a young girl who is interested in racing and she has been coming over during the week and jogging him and I’m overseeing what she is doing and it’s been good. She wants to get into racing and is learning the ropes how to do it by jogging him and obviously Philip [Corriea] is racing him.”

Meanwhile, Andy Stoneham’s stallion Custard The Dragon and Tanglewood Stables’s mare Pocket De Gold grabbed a share of the night’s second fastest time of 1:04 flat with drivers Andrea Westerfield and Christian Truran at the helm.

Stoneham’s pony also posted the third fastest time of 1:04/3.

Dylan DeSilva and Truran were the top drivers with three heat wins apiece while Kiwon Waldron and David Burrows Jr each had two.

Harness racing resumes on Friday night, starting at 7pm.