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Bermuda's fastest pony, the aptly named It's Speed Time, will be as anxious as anyone to retain it's New Year's Day stakes crown.

The pony - described by driver Catrina Sims as a 'freak of nature' - doesn't have the power or the physique you would expect to see on a record-breaking race horse.

But it has that crucial ingredient, invisible to the naked eye - the heart of a champion.

Sims said: "Just to look at him you would never guess that he had that speed. You would expect him to be bigger, to have more muscle.

"It's just something he was born with - that spirit and that speed. He has a natural will to win - the same as any athlete.

"He knows when he has won a race. He's relaxed, he has a bit of a strut in his step, he definitely knows he's done a good job.

"If he loses, he's pissed. He gets an attitude."

Losing is an unfamiliar feeling for It's Speed Time. He broke the track record last year and won the triple crown (Stakes races, Champion of Champions, Three-legged race).

After a few initial problems getting out of the starting blocks this season he's continued in the same vein, beating his own track record.

Tomorrow he goes up against GV Crystal Ball, Buffalo Solider and Time after Time in the Aged Ponies Final for the New Year's Day Stakes race.

"We are hoping he can win all here again but we don't want to count our chickens before they are hatched," added Sims, whose husband Aaron trains the horse.

Sims also rides Reel Time in the Three-year-old stakes finals, though she considers him an outsider.

"Cherokee's Superman has been doing well all season. I honestly feel we are the underdogs.

"We haven't had that much luck with Reel Time but just recently his switch has gone off and we've got him on the right track so I'm hoping for an upset.[[In-content Ad]]

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