The Boxing Day Stakes Races took centre stage at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre at the weekend.

The season’s fastest time was lowered yet again in ideal racing conditions at the Vesey Street racetrack.

Inwood Stables’s 11-year-old gelding Brona’s Mike held the season record of 1:04/1 going into Saturday’s event.

However, that all changed when Full Throttle Racing’s mare, IC’s Shakedown, eclipsed the mark competing in the Boxing Day Stakes Races Aged category with Indiana driver Dale Miller at the helm.

IC’s Shakedown’s time of 1:03/3 slashed three fifths of a second off of the season’s previous fastest time.

Grabbing a share of the season’s fastest time was Arnold Manders’s gelding, Cherokee’s Ironman, which equalled IC’s Shakedown’s time in the day’s final heat with Tyler Lopes at the helm.

Others posting fast times were previous season track-record holders GV Crystal Ball and Brona’s Mike that ran a 1:03/4 with female driver Andrea Westerfield and the in-form Lucas Bridges at the helm.

Miller and local driver Ryan Burrows were the biggest winners during the Boxing Stakes Races, which were held along with regular-season races.

Both drivers posted three victories with two different ponies in the two-year-old, three-year-old and aged-stakes races.

The day’s racing did not go without incident as Ryan Manders, son of former Driving Horse and Pony Club president Arnold Manders, went off the track to avoid colliding with rival driver Kirista Rabain in the opening heat of the four-year-old stakes races.

Manders was awarded fourth place on appeal while Rabain did not receive a time.

Harness racing continues at the Bermuda Equestrian Centre on Friday with the New Year’s Day Stakes Races.

Racing starts at 1pm with the popular Powder Puff Race, which features spectators.