Brisbane Inter Dominion Carnivals
In 2009, Albion Park will host its sixth Inter Dominion Pacing Championship, this time at Parklands Racing Centre on the Gold Coast.
1972 – Brisbane's first Inter Dominion in 1972 came after only four years of night trotting. The lights were turned on at Albion Park in September 1968 to a huge crowd but the national spotlight was firmly on the Albion Park circuit for the first round of heats in '72.
While Brisbane trotting was still in relative infancy, it could boast an 800 metre right-handed track at Albion Park making it the biggest metropolitan track in Australia.
A mobile Grand Final was still some six years away, and the three heats and final were all run under standing start conditions.
The Grand Final field comprised a wonderful array of pacing talent from Australia and New Zealand, although Manaroa was the sole Kiwi Grand Finalist and had earned favoritism after going through his round of heats undefeated.
Karamea Snow was the lone Queenslander.
A reported crowd of 33,000 crammed into Albion Park under wet skies on June 3 to witness the $36,000 Grand Final.
The New South Wales visitor Welcome Advice, who had won two heats, burst home from midfield to win the Grand Final for owners Russ and Edna Minchin and father-son combination of George and Alan Harpley handled the training and driving honors.
Welcome Advice
Welcome Advice's victory made him the first Australian standardbred to top $100,000 in his homeland.
Brisbane was to be the only bright spot in his Inter Dominion career. He had failed in the Christchurch Grand Final in 1971 and missed a place in the Grand Finals in Sydney in 1973 and Perth in 1974.
1977 – Brisbane hosted its second Inter Dominion five years later and ran the series earlier in April.
Mobile starting procedures had made some inroads into the Inter Dominion equation with one round of heats run from the moving start.
Similar to 1972, the best available made it to the Grand Final with household names such as Paleface Adios, Don't Retreat and Pure Steel among those who faced the starter on April 30 from the 2530m standing start.
It was to be a victory for New Zealand on this occasion when the father-son combination of George (trainer) and John (driver) Noble teamed to win with the highly-talented four-year-old Stanley Rio.
The Tasmanian-bred Stanley Rio had been spotted on the Apple Isle by New Zealand bloodstock agent Bob McArdle who convinced Kiwi property developer Wayne Francis to buy a share in the then juvenile.
McArdle and the late Francis later combined to own the famous Nevele R Stud.
While Stanley Rio did not win a heat during the '77 series he had raced with enough distinction to be one of the leading chances in Grand Final discussions. He had already made his mark winning the 1976 New Zealand Cup at Addington.
John Noble gave Stanley Rio a perfect trip behind the Queenslander Sporting Son before running him down in the straight.
Stanley Rio later raced in the United States before returning to New Zealand for stud duties.
1986 – A change of culture saw a vastly-different Inter Dominion run in Brisbane in 1986.
A new 1000m left-handed track had been established in October 1983 and Albion Park was now dubbed the “speed pacing capital of Australia”.
In line with this push, the Golden Jubilee Inter Dominion (celebrating 50 years of the series) was run under all mobile conditions with the first two rounds of heats over a mile and the third over 2100m with a 2100m Grand Final scheduled for April 19.
Simply, the series belonged to the Western Australian visitor Village Kid.
The New Zealand-bred five-year-old had signalled a warning of greatness to come when he beat all bar another sandgroper, Preux Chevalier, in the 1985 Grand Final in Melbourne.
If that effort wasn't sufficient alone, he subsequently won the Miracle Mile and Hunter Cup and, as such, was the nominal favourite even before the 1986 series began.
Village Kid strolled through his three heats unbeaten and even barrier 10 (the widest alley) couldn't stop him in the 2100m Grand Final, leading throughout in a brilliant 1:55.6 mile rate.
Village Kid was trained by former butcher Bill Horn whose wife Norma shared in the ownership of the five-year-old with Gordon and Celia Cox.
He was driven expertly by Chris Lewis who a decade earlier had steered Carclew to victory in the 1976 Inter Dominion in Adelaide. Ironically Carclew was a longshot while Village Kid was a raging favourite.
Village Kid was to win many more feature races Australia-wide but another Inter Dominion success would elude him, unsuccessful in the Grand Finals in Sydney (1988) and Perth (1989)
1993 – There was to be a sad epitaph to the 1993 Grand Final.
Again it was a Western Australian victory when the favourite Jack Morris defeated a stellar line-up on May 1, this time the Grand Final run over 2600 metres and Jack Morris carving out a 1:57.8 mile rate.
WA Pacer Jack Morris
Victory was sweet, but could have been sweeter, for trainer and part-owner Sean Harney who raced the New Zealand-bred with his wife Vicki in partnership with Peter and Sharyn Volk.
Harney had his driver's licence suspended during the series and handed the reins over to expert WA horseman Rod Chambers.
Chambers drove a canny race. After drawing barrier four, he allowed Jack Morris to amble up outside the leader at the 2000m and dictated the terms before forging clear to beat Warrior Khan and Blossom Lady in a 1:57.8 mile rate
Jack Morris assured himself of Grand Final favouritism after winning his opening heat and then shattered the world record, rating 1:57.2, in his 2600m third round heat win. He finished an unlucky second in heat 2 over the mile.
He was a modest $25,000 purchase on the advice of a New Zealand bloodstock agent.
Sean Harney, a colourful character and never afraid to speak his mind, succumbed to cancer a few years later.
2001 – Brisbane's fifth running of the Inter Dominion broke new ground.
For the first time, the controlling bodies elected to stage the Trotters Inter Dominion alongside the pacers' series.
While a great cast had been established in the four previous Inter Dominions held in Brisbane, the 2001 Grand Final field assembled could arguably be described as the greatest ever.
It was a New Zealand victory when Yulestar stormed down the outside to beat Atitagain and Pocket Me in a mile rate of 1:56.2 for the 2647 metres.
Yulestar storms home to Inter Dominion glory
Yulestar was driven by Tony Shaw and trained by Lorraine Nolan, also a part-owner, who became the first female to train an Inter Dominion winner.
The Trotters series was won by Take A Moment who made his Australian debut in the series. Driven by Anthony Butt, he defeated Mountain Gold and Special Force over the marathon 3157 metres.
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