Racing: Brilliant workout for mile

The Fiery Ginga. Photo / Otago Daily Times

The Fiery Ginga worked brilliantly at Forbury Park on Saturday morning in preparation for the Ashburton Trotters' Mile today.

The Fiery Ginga was within 0.7sec of New Zealand race record time for 2200m (mobile) when he ran 2:43.8, the last 800m in 57.1 and 400m in 28.4.

He finished five lengths clear of the pacer, Exotic Girl (one win) after making the pace.

I Can Doosit set the race record in the Lyell Creek Stakes at Alexandra Park in December.

"The most pleasing thing was the way he flew off the gate," Alan Clark, the trainer-driver of The Fiery Ginga, said. "He will need to do that at Ashburton."

He has drawn two.

Clark said The Fiery Ginga "felt fantastic".

The Fiery Ginga showed no sign of exertion after his workout. He had distanced Leighton Hest in a trial at Oamaru on Wednesday in 2:29.9 for 2000m (mobile), 0.7sec outside the national race record set by Just A Cracker at Addington in March last year.

"The Fiery Ginga needed those two runs. He had a week off after his last race and then when I brought him back we had a week of rain and our track was too soft to do much," Clark said.

The Fiery Ginga has not raced since he won at Oamaru on September 16 in track record time of 3:19.4 for 2600m.

The New Zealand mile race record for a trotter is 1:55.5 set by I Can Doosit at Cambridge in December.