Former Australian horse Keep The Faith has set a North American turf record for six furlongs (1200m) on the last day of the Belmont Park spring carnival.
The Belmont Park website reported that the five-year-old ran a scorching 1:06.82 to better the previous mark of 1:07 recorded by Answer Do in December 1990.
The previous Belmont track record was 1:07.31 by Masterclass in May 1992.
Keep The Faith was raced by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud in Australia where he was trained by Tony McEvoy.
He has now joined the sheikh's Godolphin team and was treated with Lasix for his American debut, his first race since he beat just one runner home in the 2004 George Ryder Stakes won by Lonhro.
He won four races from nine starts in Australia, his best win coming in the Listed Schweppes Cup at Caulfield.
Ridden by John Velazquez, Keep The Faith was kept on the rail and burst through to win by 2-1/2 lengths.
By Sunday Silence out of Duelling Girl, Keep The Faith fetched $1.2 million at the 2002 Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
© AAP 2024 Published 25/07/05