Double Time and War Machine continued to set the pace in the early stages of the harness racing season at the National Equestrian Centre last weekend.

The pair recorded the same time of 1min 3sec in the Free for All division, which featured the fastest ponies on the island.

The Martins family mare Double Time hit that mark in the first heat with driver Candyce Martins and their time was equalled only by Mello Family gelding War Machine in the ninth heat with Gerald Mello in the bike.

War Machine also posted the second fastest time of 1:03.2 which was twice matched by gelding Simsfield Hardtimes with driver Kirista Rabain at the helm.

Gold-N-Glory, also owned by the Martins Family, had the next fastest time of 1:03.3 with Martins again in the bike.

The season’s fastest time stands at 1:02.2 and was set by War Machine the previous weekend at the Vesey Street facility.

That time is a second shy of the gelding record (1:01.2) War Machine shares with Simsfield Hardtimes, owned by Aaron Sims.

Last weekend proved to be another memorable meeting for the Martins Family as mare Inwood’s Progress advanced from the slower 1:04/3-1:06 division after getting both legs out of the time bar with driver Kamali Tucker.

Inwood’s Realist also made progress out of the division after getting a leg out of the same time bar with driver Tahzil Flood.

Rabain’s three wins at the weekend was the most by a driver on the racecard while Tahzil Flood, Philip Correia and Tucker had two each respectively.