“She’s known for her blistering gate speed so we thought why not use it to its full advantage, we knew we’d be leading,” trainer Clint Petroff said.
“I personally didn’t think (anyone could run her down), I was very confident.
“Her speed, I’ve never trained anything like that before – it’s pretty phenomenal really.
“We had a plan early in the week that the record could be broken so we planned to ride her right to the post.”
Manzelmann’s winning steer made it the sixth individual driver to take out a heat, with no driver or trainer managing to record multiple victories.
The curse of the helmet cam also claimed another victim last night, with Matt Elkins and $1.70 favourite Eye See Double never threatening in the run.
Petroff was glowing in his praise of the inaugural series, highlighting its ability to give short-course horses a chance to shine on the big stage.
“I love it, it’s great – it gives great incentive with the $10,000,” he said.
“It’s a different style of racing that not many horses are used to only going the one lap.
Horses like her especially who have phenomenal early speed, it’s right up their alley so fingers crossed we can hold on to that time.”
Redcliffe will host two more heats before culminating in a feature night on Sunday, May 10 which will be isolated to Trot Rods races and incorporated into SKY 2’s free-to-access coverage via Foxtel.
In total, eight heats will be staged on the feature night – swelling the series total to 16 - and will be limited to 20-minute gaps between races, with the quickest lap of the series awarded a $10,000 cash bonus.
Check out the leaderboard as it stands after heat two:
