It’s taken me many years to find some genuine lasting affection for harness racing – thoroughbreds are definitely the easier code to become knowledgeable and enjoy for many reasons, but harness has a bit going for it.
The thing that really stands out is that harness horses are always at the races. It’s nothing to back up 16 weeks in a row, running twice a week a few times too.
This means you see a lot more of your favourite pacer or trotter, and that’s a massive difference to thoroughbred horses who rarely put together many consecutive weeks, or are run just a few times before a spell.
And somehow the breeders haven’t yet come into the sport – a number of the best horses are stallions, yet they aren’t sent to the paddock a few days after winning a Group 1.
Inter Dominion heats
It’s been the champion racing in the $1.8 million Inter Dominion series that has stood out in the last few weeks, with three terrific rounds of qualifying heats, culminating in Sunday afternoon’s grand final at Gloucester Park, in Perth.
Credit must go to Sky Racing, who’ve sent over a good crew including Adam Hamilton who do their best in between the wall-to-wall coverage. WA’s quality harness caller Richard ‘Richy’ Bell has been on top of his game throughout the high-class harness races.
But to the horses themselves, the 30 runners in the series amassed some $11,341,989 in prizemoney from a total of 598 wins. The series might be even stronger next year, with stars missing including two-time reigning champion Beautide, and Guaranteed, who’s injured. A host of top Kiwis, headed by Christen Me, should be invited again as well.
Those who have made it still represent a hugely strong final field of qualifiers who have won their way through the heats.
What a final it will be – the richest harness race in the world. Dual Group 1 winner Lennytheshark has been brilliant in his performances in WA, which will see him start as the race favourite. But facing him will be WA’s up and comer Waylade, dual Group 1 winner Philadelphia Man, inside-draw Lovers Delight, and Tasmania’s star Devendra, trained and driven by James Rattray. All bar Waylade have won a race across the total of nine heats.
Inter Dominion Final
In harness racing the barrier draw is all important, and it’s possibly even more so in Western Australia, where harness drivers rarely hand up a leading advantage, which is very different to what you see in other states, and New Zealand.
The barrier draw has seen Lovers Delight draw gate one and his trainer has said he’ll “lead at all costs”, probably his only chance of besting Lennytheshark, who will likely burn out of his favourable gate three draw in order to test Lovers Delight early, before potentially sitting in the breeze.
Philadelphia Man runs from gate 4, while Devendra will have to make his own from barrier 8 with Rattray potentially setting him alight early, or drifting back towards the tail and hoping for speed.
With Sunday afternoon booked for the meet over in WA, the big race is run at 2:50pm local (5:50pm AEDT, 4:50pm AEST).
With $780,000 up for grabs for the winning connections, expect it to be a great race that may just test the clock at Gloucester Park – the track record set at 1:54.7 held by the best ever and three-time Inter Dominion winner, WA’s own Imthemightyquinn.
Take a look at his great 2012 win at Gloucester Park in preparation for the big one on Sunday!
Elise
Guest
Great article!
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Thanks again Glenn Innes.
Glenn Innes
Guest
To expand on the above back in the seventies when I was a kid seven used to have a Sunday morning sports show that ran from nine until midday called Sportscene. They used to show a replay of the last lap of every rave from Albion Park trots, the previous night, plus any big raves down south.tHERE WAS AN ENTIRE HOUR DEVOTED TO THE THOROUGHBREDS.Believe it or not they also used to show a replay of every dog race from the Thursday night gabba card. Racing just lost a whole generation, maybe one day an anthropologist or whoever will produce a thesis about how and why it maybe happened,but happen it did and very quickly.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Tristain - i would not say I grew up on Harness racing, I took an interest in it but never seriously bet on it, I was always much more involved with the gallops, I was just noting that back in the seventies and to some degree the eighties it was a very popular sport.It was never football or cricket it was never as big as the thoroughbreds, but to use a modern comparison back in the seventies it was about where V8 supercars are today in terms of media profile and popularity, An interdominion final was as least as big as Bathurst is today as far as media coverage is concerned..Of course the thoroughbreds were huge, younger people have no idea how big they were back then. Sports editors used to say "if it is a slow day chuck racing on the back page" it was up there with football in the seventies and early eighties , bigger actually, because it went all year long, but harness racing was a big niche, like I said about V8 super car level coverage,
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Glenn Innes - I put my hand up that I really don't know a significant amount about the harness world, and certainly not the storied history. But you're certainly not the only one who's said they grew up on harness races, knew all the big names, back in the day, but are now in the thoroughbred game.
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Lenny was excellent. Philadelphia Man and Waylade were disappointing though.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Tristan I am not that old but I am old enough to remember when this was a big mainstream sport, and inter finals were back page news day in day out die a couple of weeks, The best pacers and drivers were household names and when the inter came to your town it was like the Stare of Origin.I still remember the 1972 series in Brisbane, the hype was incredible.It dominated the papers and the sports bulletins on the nightly news. I had just started in secondary school (they didn't call it High School back then well not in Queensland) and it was my first ever trip to any kind of racetrack I went with a friend and his dad who owned a Butcher shop and was a keen trots man, it was on the inside track at the old Albion Park and it was so packed you could hardly move. What the hell happened, how did a sport that was so big fall away to nothing so quickly?.Obviously competition from gaming machines hit it hard, but complete and utter contempt on the part of industry participants for the punter also played a big part Perception is everything,and the perception Justified or not was this game was full of crooks and the industry was not concerned or at least appeared to be little concerned about that perception .Not good enough in a competitive gaming and wagering market.
justinr
Guest
I have a large extended family who are involved in all three racing codes, and I'd say from a purist's perspective harness racing is the most rewarding. The gallops code lost a lot of credibility when Shamus Award won the Cox Plate. A 3yo maiden winning what is supposed to be a WFA "championship" is just embarrassing (the Caulfield Stakes is probably this country's best WFA event IMO). But to even get into a Grand Circuit race you have to meet a minimum criteria, making it a genuinely elite contest. There are no excuses for either Lenny or Philadelphia Man in this race -- if they can't win here they can't win anywhere. Waylade appears over-rated on what has been shown so far. My Hard Copy is good value.
Gothegrey
Guest
Too right Tristan, there's been some cracking races in the lead up. What about the Irish "raider" Meadowbranch DJ? Some say he's still going around, hoping to hear the bell...