by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Delaware, OH — In a showdown of speed, Pet Rock rolled to a world-record victory.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Pet Rock overcame rival A Rocknroll Dance and paced the fastest mile ever on a half-mile track (1:48.1) in the Winbak Pace on Thursday at the Delaware County Fair.

Pet Rock and driver David Miller overcame rival A Rocknroll Dance in deep stretch and paced the fastest mile ever on a half-mile racetrack, winning the $51,250 Winbak Pace in 1:48.1 on Thursday (Sept. 19) at the Delaware County Fair. Our Lucky Chip was third in the five-horse field.

The previous record of 1:49 was set by Jet Laag at Delaware in 1999. It was equaled by Ponder at Delaware in 2006 and Bolt The Duer at Saratoga earlier this year.

Pet Rock and A Rocknroll Dance battled for the lead on the first turn, with Pet Rock grabbing the top spot momentarily before A Rocknroll Dance pressed forward to the front as he hit the first quarter in :26.

The position of the horses remained unchanged through a half in :53.3 and three-quarters in 1:21. Pet Rock made his move on the final turn and was able to nip A Rocknroll Dance at the wire.

Owned by Frank Bellino and trained by Virgil Morgan, Jr., Pet Rock has won four of 13 races this year and earned $644,070.

Earlier this month, Pet Rock paced the fastest mile ever on a five-eighths-mile oval when he won the Ewart Memorial in 1:47.2 at Scioto Downs. A Rocknroll Dance was second in that race as well.

“He is such a consistent horse and never throws in a bad race,” said Morgan. “He can also do it any way you want. He’s won at Tioga parked the whole way. Sometimes it seems like he has three lungs.”

“He’s a pleasure to drive,” said Miller. “He’s very handy. Obviously his greatest asset is he can carry his speed as far as he can. It amazes me.

“I have been doing this for 25 or 30 years and when a horse like him comes along it amazes you he can go as fast as he does and he does it anyway you want him to do it. It’s unbelievable.

“You could feel the pace. I knew we were rolling along pretty good there but that was the plan to set a track record or a world record today.”

— Kimberly French also contributed to this report