Smolda became the youngest pacer to enter the New Zealand mile race record for all ages when the 3yr-old won in 1.52.1 at the Harness Jewels meeting at Cambridge on Saturday.
Smolda eclipsed the opposition to cap a meteoric rise.
He worked hard to wrest the lead from Ideal Scott at the 600m and won by five lengths.
He equalled the New Zealand record set by Kiwi Ingenuity as a 4yr-old mare at the Harness Jewels at Ashburton (1400m track) in 2009. Cambridge is a 1000m circuit.
The previous record for a 3yr-old was 1.53 set by Kotare Mach at Ashburton in 2009.
Smolda began racing 10 and a-half months ago and he has won 10 races including the New South Wales Derby and $349,211 in stakes for trainers Mark Purdon and Grant Payne and owners Phil and Glenys Kennard, Neil Pilcher and Marcus Kirkwood.
The Courage Under Fire-Under The Mattress gelding gave Purdon his 14th training win and eighth driving success in a Harness Jewels race. He also trained O Baby to win on Saturday.
Smolda is the third pacer trained and driven by Purdon to hold the New Zealand mile race record. The others are Scuse Me, who ran 1.53.5 at Alexandra Park in 1998, and Auckland Reactor, who recorded the same time at Cambridge in 2009.
Smolda, a $53,000 purchase at auction in Australia, is headed back there for the Breeders' Crown.
Royal Aspirations lowered the New Zealand mile record for a 2yr-old trotter by two seconds when he won his Harness Jewels race in 1.56.5. The previous record was set by the filly Jo Anne at Ashburton in 2001.
Royal Aspirations, a $27,000 yearling sales purchase, is trained at Weedons by Fred Fletcher, who won the 2yr-old trotter Harness Jewels with Jinga Gal in 2009.
Sam Smolenski, who drove Jinga Gal, also drove Royal Aspirations. Royal Aspirations is a half-brother to Jinga Gal, raced by Fletcher, Grant Adamson and Garry Bree. Adamson also raced Jinga Gal.
