KEY POINTS:
Flashing Red defied age, logic and the stopwatch to complete the toughest double in harness racing last night.
The veteran pacer crushed his opponents and destroyed the national record in the $400,000 Trillian Trust Auckland Trotting Cup, adding it to the New Zealand Cup he won in December.
In one of the most unbelievable displays of power pacing seen in New Zealand, the 9-year-old forced his way off the marker pegs early, was launched to the lead at the 1600m point and then proceeded to inflict pain on his rivals.
Carving out unheard of sectionals, he simply ran them off their hooves, leaving only Classic Cullen a challenger on the home turn.
But running up to Flashing Red is one thing, running past him quite another, and the grand old man of pacing held him easily at the line, with another veteran, Sly Flyin, flashing into third.
While the performance itself was stunning, the time bordered on scary.
His 3:17.1 effort was 1.6 seconds inside the old 2700m mobile record jointly held by Two Under and Christopher Vance, a mark no horse has got close to since 1993.
It will now take a long time for potential challengers to get close to Flashing Red's new time.
It represented a 1:57.6 mile rate and left rival trainers shaking their heads and rival horses gasping.
The win completes a fairytale season for Flashing Red, who six months ago was a journeyman battler in Australia.
His connections sent him to New Zealand hoping to take advantage of the longer races and bigger tracks, but what transformed him was the training of Tim Butt and Phil Anderson and the driving of Butt's brother Anthony.
He has gone on a winning rampage, setting a national 2400m record in the Ashburton Flying Stakes before his Cups double.
After the race Tim Butt was in awe of Flashing Red's courage and his own brother's drive.
"That was wonderful, the way Ants got him off the markers at the start," said Butt.
"That was the winning of the race."
Last night's cup was Flashing Red's 158th career start and his reward will be a trip to Perth, where he will start off a 20m backmark in the Fremantle Cup next Friday.
He then faces three big races in a fortnight but judging by his performance last night, if any horse can handle such a programme it will be Flashing Red.
While beaten, Classic Cullen showed he has taken the next step up to be a real open-class force, and Sly Flyin overcame an interrupted preparation in his usual courageous style.
The much-hyped 4-year-old challenger was in trouble early when Pay Me Christian galloped, leaving Awesome Armbro and Monkey King to run on just behind the placegetters.
King of cups
* Flashing Red wins the Auckland Trotting Cup.
* That completes the double with last November's New Zealand Cup.
* In doing so he smashes the long-held national 2700m mobile record.
* His win came courtesy of a daring drive from Anthony Butt.
