Bellhaven Stables gelding Smart Machine and driver Candyce Martins lowered the season’s fastest time before rain brought harness racing to a grinding halt at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre last Saturday night.

The duo won the opening heat in the Free for All division in 1:04 flat to shave two-fifths of a second off the previous mark of 1:04/2, held by sole rival Rockeyed Optimist.

Owner/driver Martins is thrilled with Smart Machine’s early season form.

“I want to bring him along slow so I just let him run his race and see what he can do,” she told The Royal Gazette.

“We are still very early in the season and I am looking forward to the season to continue.”

Martins picked up a second win after steering 12-year old mare Double Time to victory with a time of 1:04/4 in the second Free for All Heat.

The feat exceeded the Driving Horse and Pony Club vice-president’s expectations.

“Double Time has gone faster than I expected after I gave her a year off last year and I decided to bring her out again this year to have an additional pony on the track,” Martins said. “This mare loves her job and she is showing it so far with her performance.”

Double Time and Martins have already made their mark in the sport having set the Bermuda-bred record of 1.02/1 three years ago.

The remaining two heats in the Free for All division, reserved for the island’s fastest harness ponies, and 1:08/4 and Faster division both fell prey to rain which brought proceedings to a premature end at the Vesey Street racetrack.

Achieving two wins on the night was Tahzil Flood competing in the Junior Free for All with his gelding HuntingForGold (1:07) and Bellhaven Stables’s gelding Inwood’s Realist (1:08/3) before the downpour.

Simsfield Stables’s stallion Gold Rush and Bellhaven Stables’s gelding Gold-N-Glory won the remaining Junior Free for All heats. Gold Rush and driver Philip Correia won the opening heat in 1:06/3 and Gold-N-Glory the second in 1:08/4 with driver Teshi Zuill in the bike.

Bellhaven Stables (seven) and Catrina Stephens (two) were the only team owners achieving multiple victories on the night.

Harness racing continues at the Vesey Street racetrack on Saturday (6pm).