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Nick DeCosta equalled his own track record for the second time this year in what is turning out to be a lightening fast pony-racing season at the Vesey Street track.

GV Colonel Spence clocked 1:04 flat in the final heat on Sunday and is on top of the pile going into the final few weeks of the season.

DeCosta picked up five wins on Sunday but none will have been sweeter than the final heat of the day, which cemented his status as the man to beat in the climactic Champion of Champions series.

DeCosta, who first set the record with Colonel Spence in December 2004, has now hit the 1:04 mark twice this year, having blitzed round the track during the New Year's Day races.

GV Colonel Spence was brought to Bermuda from Indiana as a three-year-old by Nick's father Michael DeCosta of Inwood stables.

The horse, the last bred out of Shamrock Spencer and Sally's Little Ripper, has gone from strength to winning the 3-year- old and four-year-old Boxing Day stakes races before going on to claim the Champion of Champions title twice. He goes for a hat-trick in this year's series on February 10 and 11.

The series pits the 12 fastest horses against each other to determine the season's overall winner.

Darico Clarke, on GV Special Wind, clocked the fifth fastest time of the year in the same race as De Costa's record-equalling run, to ensure his place among the final 12.

But there were no other moves and Ed Roque's GV Crystal Ball and Charles Whited jnr's It's Speed Time remain the closest contenders. It was also a good day for Catrina Sims (pictured) who won three races, Whited jnr who won three races and Mark Richardson who also won three.

Champion of Champions standings

Top 16 (Top 12 ponies will qualify)

n GV Colonel Spence 1:04

n GV Crystal Ball 1:04/1

n It's Speed Time 1:04/2

n Larry L Way 1:05/1

n GV Special Wind 1:05/2

n Real Shamrock 1:05/2

n Na Na Shamrock 1:05/4

n Kick A Poo Brave 1:06

n Buffalo Soldier 1:06

n Happy Hank 1:06

n Casmir Commotion 1:06/1

n IC Flashy Anne 1:06/1

n George Tee 1:06/2

n Maja Night Train 1:06/2

n Indian Creek Aries 1:06/3

n Stir It Up 1:06/3[[In-content Ad]]

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