Smart Machine and owner/driver Candyce Martins continued their assault on the record books at the National Equestrian Centre last weekend.

Racing on the rail in the opening heat of the Free for All time bar, the pair led the field across the line in a blistering 1:01/3, the fastest any harness pony has run this season, to earn a share of the three-year-old record along with Martins’s gelding Gold N Glory.

The time was a fifth of a second shy of the gelding’s record (1:01/2) shared between War Machine and Simsfield Hardtimes and two-fifths off retired mare Google Me’s overall track record, which stands at 1:01/1.

“In the heat I put him on the rail and let him run his race,” Martins told The Royal Gazette. “He is an easygoing pony and loves to run.

“I have a wonderful team that helps me with Smarty week in week out, and he continues to exceed my expectations. Smarty means a lot to me and I want his race career to be many years.

“I am going to give him a weekend off to work on a few things with his harness and figure him out a bit, but it’s been a fun challenge.”

Rival geldings War Machine and Red October posted the second and third-fastest time when also competing in the Free for All time bar.

War Machine clocked 1:02 flat on the way to victory in the fifth heat with experienced driver Robert Lopes in the bike. The Mello Family-owned horse’s time equalled the season’s previous fastest time shared between Smart Machine and Red October.

Red October, owned by Simsfield Stables, led the field across the line in 1:02/3 in the fourth heat with driver Kirista Rabain at the helm.

Getting one leg out of the 1:05/2 - 1:06/2 was Arnold Manders’s gelding, A Touch of Red, after posting 1:06 flat with driver Darico Clarke in the sixth heat.

Getting a leg out of the Junior Free For All time bar was Graceland Stables’s gelding, Itsallaboutme, with experienced driver Robert Lopes.

Also making progress was Martin’s gelding, Inwood’s Realist, after getting a leg out of the 1:05/2- 1:06/2 time bar with driver Tahzil Flood at the helm.