The 2024-25 harness racing season will come to a close at Vesey Street on Sunday minus the popular Champion of Champions, which has been scrapped due to a lack of numbers.

“Unfortunately, due to lack of entries in the Champion of Champions division the executive committee have decided the last race of the season will be a one=day race instead of a two-day event,” the Driving Horse and Pony Club announced in a statement.

“Our final race day of the 2024-25 season will be this Sunday, March 9, post time 1pm.”

As well as the cancellation of one of the season’s biggest event, Smart Machine’s unrelenting assault on the record books has also come to a halt.

Owner/driver Candyce Martins has revealed that her three-year-old gelding strained a muscle early last month and she has decided against competing for the remainder of the season to avoid aggravating the injury.

“His injury is a minor muscle strain but I want to make sure he is 100 per cent before he comes out to race again,” Martins told The Royal Gazette.

“This pony means a lot to me as I have owned him since he was a yearling. It was not a hard decision as I have his best interest at heart. He is only 3-years-old and I hope to be racing him for many years.”

Before picking up the injury, Martins’ pony clocked the fastest time of the season of 1:01/3 when competing in the Free for All Division to earn a share of the three-year-old record along with her other gelding, Gold N Glory.

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

“Smarty has by far exceeded all my expectations for this year and I couldn’t have asked for a better performance or a better season from him,” Martins said.

“He will have the summer off out in a field and start training again to get ready for the 2025-26 season as a four-year-old.”

Gelding War Machine and driver Philip Correia picked up two wins while stallion Special Gold and driver Andrea Westerfield clocked the fastest time (1:02/4) competing in the Free for All division during the last round of harness racing at the National Equestrian Centre.

“I am very happy with Special Gold and his performance,” Westerfield said. “This is a new partnership with him, so we are still getting to know each other and looking forward to next season.”

Arnold Manders’s gelding, A Touch of Red, got a leg out of the 1.05/2 – 1:06/2 time bar with driver Darico Clarke at the helm.

“I just gave him a little blow out because it’s getting close to the end of the season,” Clarke said. “I took him up a bit and I am going to see what he does on Sunday. I think he will go a little bit faster.

“He is ending the season well from where he started to where he is now, and I am happy with how it’s been going.”

Also making progress was Martins’ stallion, Reel Desire, which got a leg out of the 1:06/3 – 1:08 time bar and also swept both heats in the division.

Making a final appearance at the track on Sunday will be Graceland Stables’ gelding Itsallaboutme, which will be paraded on the track before retiring from racing.