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Mello clocks season’s fastest time

Johnny Paynter (left) takes the lead from Tom Matthews (Amber Fire) during last weekend’s Harness racing at Vesey Street. Paynter won two heats with Leo Simmons’ Ribbons and Pearls in the 1:08/3 and 1:10/3 time bar( Photo by Glenn Tucker )

Colin Mello continued his superb early season form during the last round of harness racing.The top driver won three of the four heats contested in the Aged Division of the Best of Three Series Stakes competing with two different ponies at the Vesey Street racetrack.He also clocked the season’s fastest time (1:02/1) to date with track record holder Big Red Machine in heat 24.Mello won two heats with stud Big Red Machine and another with Cherokee Kibbitz to cap another memorable weekend of competition.He pipped Darico Clarke (Down Home Punch) by one fifth of a second in the opening heat of the Aged Series Stakes but won the third heat more convincingly with the same pony en route to running the season’s fastest time.Mello’s other win arrived in the second Aged Series Stakes heat with Cherokee Kibbitz after crossing the line one fifth of a second ahead of Cherokee’s Superman (Philip Correia).Correia won the remaining Aged Series Stakes heat to deny Mello of a clean sweep of top honours.Mello currently leads the Aged Division of the Best of Three Series Stakes by a point over nearest rival Correia.Also making a bright start to the Best of Three Series Stakes was female driver Lindsay Sousa who won two heats in two separate divisions.She won the opening heat of the three-year-old Series Stakes with Imagine That and second heat of the three, four and five-year-old Series Stakes event with Real Ladylike.Another female driver, Kirista Rabain, was also among the multiple heat winners in the Series Stakes. She won two heats in the three,four and five-year-old Series Stakes with Nite Dreamer.Rabain currently leads the series by a point over nearest rival Sousa.Andy Stoneham (What-A-Sensation), Clarke (Colonel’s Finest), David Burrows Jr (Mike’s Shadow) and Bill Beechy (GV Crystal Ball) all claimed heat wins in their respective Series Stakes divisions.Clarke’s Colonel’s Finest currently leads the three-year-old series by two points over nearest rival Sousa (Imagine That).The Best of Three Series Stakes, jointly sponsored by Keen Limited and Correia Construction, features six heats with the top four in the points standings after the first six heats going forward to a seventh and eighth heat championship race.The winner of the series will be the pony with the least amount of points after the final two heats.Meanwhile, Antwan Edwards, Keith Woodley and Johnny Paytner were among the biggest winners during last weekend’s regular season racing.Edwards won three heats with two different ponies. He won two heats with GV Speed Demon and another with Here Comes Shady in the 1:06/1-1:07/1 time bar.Woodley (Spirit’s Bruna’s) and Paynter (Ribbons and Pearls) were double heat winners in the 1:15/1 and Slower and 1:08/3-1:10/3 time bars respectively.