Sydney Inter Dominion Carnivals
NINE of the best: Harold Park’s INTER DOMINIONS a reflection from renown journalist Bill Whittaker.
The INTER DOMINION has been conducted in every State of Australia and on both islands of New Zealand, but the excitement, the courage, and the sheer ability of horses and drivers at every Inter Dominion staged at Harold Park makes Sydney the supreme venue for the sports greatest and most inspiring events.
Delegates from Australia and New Zealand, led by the legendary Perth trotting boss, JP Stratton, met in Sydney in June 1935 to design a new race they where to call it ‘Inter Dominion Championship’.
The president of that 1935 meeting, the venerable JP Stratton was at Harold Park in February/March in 1952 when, as the long running chairman of the Inter Dominion Conference, he witnessed amazing scenes never before seen in trotting in Australia.
It was Sydney’s first Inter Dominion; held two and a half years after night trotting’s introduction at Harold Park in October 1949.
Prizemoney for the Grand Final was set at £10,000 compared, favourably, with the £14,300 for Delta’s 1951 Melbourne Cup run five months previously. Ten thousand pounds was a fortune in 1952; easily the largest prize ever offered for a harness event in Australia.
In 1952, the £10,000 Grand Final prize made the media and the racing world sit up and take a lot of notice. The carnival preliminaries were extraordinary; especially in the conservative, often austere world of harness racing, circa 1952.
This expertly-organised, well attended event was the brainchild of a brilliant young public relations ‘whiz kid’, Asher Joel, who had impressed the NSW Trotting Club’s affable, wily, wealthy, and clever chairman with an entrepreneurial spirit, Bill Dunlop. The stage for a spectacular, dramatic Inter Dominion, the like of which had never been seen before in Sydney was set.
Asher Joel, later to manage Public Relations for many visiting notables such as The Pope, was to be knighted for his remarkable prowess in this field. His energy and ability was a critical factor behind the success of Harold Park’s first Inter.
Avian Derby, trained at Temora (NSW) by the tough, tight-lipped skilled and experienced Syl Bray, and owned in Melbourne by Victoria’s most flamboyant, big betting bookmaker, Fred Hanlon (a brother of George who has trained three Melbourne Cup winners and hundreds of other winners at the gallops) was the star performer; one of the most dominant champions in the history of the Inter Dominion.
Fred Hanlon – a real character if ever there was one – was rotund; he usually dressed himself in a light coloured suit, broad brimmed hat, and a ‘loud’ (for the period) tie.
Hanlon had in effect stopped Harold Park bookmakers about two years previously when he gave fellow Sydney bookmaker Arthur Browning an unlimited commission to back Avian Derby for him in a Qualifying Stakes, at what was Avian Derby’s first start at the Glebe paceway.
The faultless and fast Avian Derby, with Syl Bray driving, won in a breeze impressing everyone; especially Bert Creagh.
Creagh, the NSW Trotting Club’s chief steward and handicapper, got around to disliking Hanlon because he publicly criticised Creagh’s handicapping of Avian Derby on 24 yards for the Inter Dominion and threatened to scratch the champion.
Creagh, a big, suave talking, handsome man, knew his horses and Avian Derby was to prove him 100 per cent correct.
Three weeks before the Inter Dominion got under way, Syl Bray entered Avian Derby for the Harold Park Handicap in which he was put on 36 yards under the automatic handicap system that operated at the time.
Hanlon bet big, as usual, and Jim Caffyn’s pacer First Again, who had won a string of races, made a market but Avian Derby made light work of it, winning stylishly, but the aggressive Bray bumped First Again in the run.
Creagh, who made no secret of his admiration for Caffyn – the local golden boy – promptly suspended Bray, not for two weeks or even four, but for THREE MONTHS!
There were no strays of proceedings or appeals to higher authorities in those days. The suspension stuck. Bray was out of the Inter Dominion.
He would have scratched Avian Derby but there was too much at stake; Hanlon had backed the horse from 15-1 to 5-2 for the Final, which was now less than a month away.
They selected the replacement driver, a little know former pony jockey, cum bike rider, cum trotting driver in Melbourne … GD (Dave) Wilson.
Avian Derby lined up in his first-round heat from 24 yards over 1 1/4 miles (2000m) as the 5-2 favourite with Vera Defty, First Again, and Minor Derby all backed to beat him, while the crack Tasmanian Floodlight was 16-1.
Well, Avian Derby simply bolted in. He sprinted to the lead after about a furlong (200 metres) the proceeded to smash the track record.
I remember well the tremendous buzz of excitement from the packed track (the crowd was a record 30,355) on a Tuesday night the cramped Glebe hollow. Yes, Tuesday!
That Inter Dominion was run on Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday over only 12 days.
Avian Derby paced at a record 2m 7 3/5s rate. The two other heat winners were the grand old Sydney performer Recovered in 2m 10 3/5s, and the good Tasmanian mare Dawn Volo in 2m 10’s.
Four nights later, Avian Derby put in a repeat performance by winning his 11 3/4 furlongs (2350m) heat in a breeze from Floodlight and Court Lady. Significantly, Avian Derby had earned sufficient points – under the then system – to qualify for the Final for which he was 6-4 favourite by this time.
Hanlon, and the public who had come to adore the little bay eight-year-old stallion, had the bookmakers (and there were 194 of them at Harold Park!) reeling and on the ropes.
The bookies’ one ray of hope was that Avian Derby might be flattened or soured by having to race on the third night in the long distance, testing 15 ½ furlongs heat (3100m), for which has was going to be a hot favourite against the crack Adelaide stayer Minor Derby, Recovered, Floodlight, Real Lawn, Dawn Volo and Belgrave.
This heat was to be run on Tuesday, February 26, only four nights before the final on Saturday, March 1. The champion was facing up to four starts in 12 days and going very fast, every time from his 24-yard handicap. But wait! Early on that Tuesday night Syl Bray informed Bert Creagh that Avian Derby would not be starting.
He was suffering a colic attack and Bray had veterinary surgeon Arthur Sternhill’s certificate to prove it.
Creagh was not only furious but he was suspicious.
So, after the dashing Minor Derby had won the last heat that night, the chairman of stewards despatched the Club’s senior vet, Harry Armstrong, out to Gordon Morris’s Canterbury stable where Bray had Avian Derby stabled for a mid-night check as to whether the champion did in fact have colic.
If Armstrong had said “no” then Creagh was going to consider ordering Avian Derby’s scratching from the Final, which he could have done under the rules at the time. But Armstrong said “yes” Avian Derby had suffered mild colic during the afternoon.
So, while Minor Derby and all of the other were slugging it out over 15 ½ furlongs at their third start in eight days, Avian Derby was resting at home.
A victory for Hanlon and Bray, and it paid off. Avian Derby went to the post, as the 6/4 favourite from his 24 yard handicap in the Final. He was fresh and fighting fit.
The attendance was a record 38,090, eclipsing the previous best 30,355 set on opening night. Traffic came to a standstill. Extra police were rushed to the track to help ease the problem. The inimitable Ken Howard was the course broadcaster and he excelled himself that warm Sydney night with the huge crowd as his audience.
It was a night of excitement and thrills. The mighty Ribands, who was to become one of the finest pacers ever to grace an Australian track, won a restricted age event early in the evening, delighting the crowd after losing at least 50 yard at the start with Percy Hall driving.
Avian Derby jumped fast from 24 yards in the big race, but immediately became pocketed on the fence about seventh, with Dawn Volo leading the field at the bell from Recovered, Minor Derby (wide), Floodlight, Indian Game, and Tennessee Sky all in front of him.
Minor Derby, which broke at the start, galloped again when making his run wide out at about the two furlongs (400m) pole.
While Avian Derby was still pocketed coming to the home turn, Recovered (Frank Peterson) shot clear and looked home and hosed.
However, Wilson extricated the favourite on the turn, freeing him from a wheel lock, and the little dasher simply flew, gathering in Recovered in a few strides the champion romped in at a record mile rating for 2m 6 4/5 for the 13 furlongs (2600m).
It was a magnificent performance, and to this day one of the finest I have seen in my 52 years of watching them go around Harold Park.
The 1952 title race was the forerunner of eight more trilling Inter Dominions at Harold Park and everywhere else for that matter from that year onwards. The Inter Dominion was ‘made’ big-time at Harold Park 50 years ago.
Avian Derby
With all the vicissitudes and alterations endured by the Inter Dominion, this marvellous event has managed to retain its hold, not only on harness racing enthusiasts but the general public as well.
They have changed the points system at least three times, they keep altering the distance, the scrapped handicaps to provide for the mobile gate, the prizemoney is unstable, going up and down and the race great race is contested a multiple venues.
Nevertheless, the term Inter Dominion means a lot, unlike the names of some recently established events in Sydney. Who could forget Gentleman John’s last stride defeat of Mineral Spring (Merv Adams) at Harold Park’s second Inter Dominion in 1956, when Eric Rothacker played the waiting game while Merv Adams went for home on the turn – much the same as Frank Peterson did on Recovered in the 1952 Final?
What about the veteran Bankstown trainer Max Treuer’s superb training feat in preparing the previously unsung Tasmanian Chamfer’s Star (Brian Forrester) to win his three heats and the final from the crack NZ mare Robin Dundee (Maurice Holmes) in the mud in 1966? There has never been a wetter night at Harold Park!
Gallant little Hondo Grattan (Tony Turnbull) earned every cent of his prize in 1973 when he came again under the stick to hold off the big New Zealander Royal Ascot (Alan Harrison) in one of the most popular victories of all time.
Gough Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia, was there to present the trophy, the first and only time, I believe, that a PM has visited Harold Park.
Then came Koala King for Ray and Fay Wisbey and champion young driver, Brian Hancock, in the 1980’s series.
That was the night Kerry Packer, who had been Harold Parks’ biggest punter during the early 1970’s, made a comeback to the track. Much to bookmakers Bill and Robbie Waterhouse’s loss, Packer had $100,000 to $10,000 with them about Koala King. Johnny Binskin led all the way with our Maestro for Bob and Vin Knight in 1988. Maybe Binskin was not the best driver ever to steer a horse around Harold Park, but the Bankstown Maestro was surely the most skilled tactician of them all, and he used all his guile to coax that extra half-length or so out of Our Maestro.
It was Brian Hancock again in 1994 with Weona Warrior. I doubt whether I’ve seen a better drive at Harold Park than Hancock’s display in the ‘big league’ that night. Steve Turnbull the son of the great ‘AD’ and brother-in-law of the man who would become known as the ‘Inter Dominion King’ Brian Hancok won the most recent edition in 2002 with Smooth Satin for owners Laurie and Gwen Paton.
All those races aside, for total drama, nothing could equal the mighty Caduceus’s spine tingling victory over Apmat, Maestro’s Melody, and Fettle in the 1960 Grand Final.
This was as near as we’ll get to the ultimate, most exciting horse race.
The 50,346 crowd was the biggest ever, a record that will never be equalled, and most of that huge throng were there to see whether the ‘mighty atom’ (Caduceus) could overcome his 36-yard handicap and an Inter Dominion hoodoo that had dogged him in five previous Inter attempts in 1955, ’56, ’57, ’58, and ’59.
The only ‘little’ thing about this nine year old pony bulldog was his physique.
Jack Litten, the great Christchurch trainer had not previously driven Caduceus in a Grand Final.
Doug Watts, Jack Watts and Frank Kersley all were beaten on him in four Grand Finals. Kersley drove him in Perth in 1957, and again in Melbourne in 1959 when he won three heats only to fail in the Final due largely to a waterlogged track.
This memorable 1960 Final was the wily Litten’s triumph of triumphs. Caduceus and Apmat jostled one and other three or four times during the race, their drivers playing cat and mouse with a lot at stake.
Apmat was big, tough and awkward. Caduceus; small and quick. This amazing agility came to his aid in the ferocious battle with Apmat and Bert Alley – whose protest was dismissed quickly by the chief stipe Jack Marx who would have had a riot on his conscious if he’d upheld Alley’s objections.
Yonkers Raceway boss Martin Tananbaum and his quick-witted, amusing PR, Irving Rudd, added a lot of colour and interest to the series in 1960, their first of 11 trips ‘down under’ as they described Australia and New Zealand.
Tananbaum used to select one or two horses to go to Yonkers for its rich International series during June-July in New York. The connections of Caduceus and Fettle accepted their invitation in 1960, adding publicity and verve to the Inter Dominion series. Tananbaum was always newsworthy. He liked the Australian media and of course the media liked him. Newspaper editors at the time recognised the New York multi-millionaire as ‘big-time’ in the racing world. Four years after Caduceus, the incomparable Cardigan Bay was Yonker’s target during the Melbourne Inter Dominion, and in 1962 James Scott and Percy Hall went to Yonkers after winning the Perth Final.
Jack Litten was symbolic of all that is good in harness racing, and the Inter Dominion in particular. He and his super little horse were both champions.
The 1960 Inter Dominion remains the greatest, most exciting race I have ever seen in my long and interesting years as a racing reporter.
Jack Litten & Caduceus
In 2010 we will again witness an exciting event no doubt equal to the eight previous tests of stamina and speed, and of the training feats and driving excellence from horsemen of a special calibre.
In 2010 however we will take in the pacing action from three tracks, Harold Park the historic home of the Inter Dominion is NSW, at Newcastle International Paceway and at Australasia’s fairest and fastest track the 1400 metre Menangle Park for the $1million Final.
Bill Whittaker
BILL Whittaker, the doyen of racing writers, covered 26 Inter Dominions starting in 1952 when he worked for the Trotting Recorder in Sydney. He became trotting writer for the Daily Telegraph newspaper and then the Sydney Morning Herald.
Bill had the privilege of seeing and reporting on all nine Championship series staged at Harold Park since 1952, and indeed many others at faraway places such as Gloucester Park, Perth, and the wondering Addington track at Christchurch.
Bill Whittaker won two AHRC Joseph Coulter media awards in 1979 and 1980; was Australian Sports Writer of the Year in 1984; and Australian Turf Writer of the Year in 1987. Harness Racing NSW honoured him in 1999 by naming him as a NSW ‘Living Legend’. Our dear friend Bill passed away in May 2009.
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