World record dead heat at The Meadows

Diamond Hunter got the jump down the backside, but Rembrandt Spur gobbled up his lead in the lane and at the wire the two were inseparable in 1:55.1 at The Meadows Friday afternoon. The time was the fastest trotting dead heat ever on a 5/8-mile track. Impeccable Image and NY Speed Limit established the previous mark of 1:55.3 in 1998 at Dover Downs.

 

The world record came in the $25,000 trot feature. When Eric Ledford sent Diamond Hunter first-over from third, he had little trouble clearing Speed Bomb on the lead. But he also provided live cover for trainer/driver Dick Stillings and Rembrandt Spur, whose 2009 mile of 1:53.3 at The Meadows equaled the mark of Shermans Mountain as the fastest ever by a 3-year-old gelding trotter on a 5/8ths mile track.

 

Rembrandt Spur made up 1 1/2 lengths in the stretch to set up the dead heat while Rose Run Keepsake closed well for third.

 

Jeff Cox trains Diamond Hunter, a 5-year-old gelded son of Fortunefivehundred-Erikas First Lady, for Sherree Cox and Richard McNutt. Roy Davis owns Rembrandt Spur, a son of Pegasus Spur-Marty E. (The Meadows)