Shepparton horseman Steve Duffy and his wife Julie savoured an Inter Dominion win in 2021 with the pacer they owned Boncel Benjamin, named after Duffy’s late father, and trained by big race specialist Jason Grimson.
Boncel Benjamin was awarded the final at Menangle on protest that year, but gave the Duffys the ultimate success in the sport and a life changing experience.
First round heats of the Holy Grail of harness racing at Newcastle on Friday night produced standout performances from Shepparton and Goulburn Valley-trained and owned pacers.
The standout was Shepparton-trained Cantfindabettorman who outclassed his rivals in the third heat for trainer Isabel Walsh and reinsman Chris Alford.
Alford backed his judgment with a fast midrace move to the front running position at the bell lap with Cantfindabetterman who was never seriously challenged after that over the 2030m trip.
The only pacer to pull any ground off him in the concluding stages was the Shepparton-owned Curly James who ran home strongly once into clear running.
Curly James was trained by Shepparton horsewoman Courtney Laker until mid year this year when she sent him to Inter Dominion-winning trainer Grimson, who has produced the son of A Rocknroll Dance for 11 top four finishes in 12 starts which have included two wins and four runner-up finishes in good company.
Cantfindabettorman rated a slick 1:53.9 in his heat win, the second quickest mile rate of the three heats and 0.7 outside the quickest heat winner, the Western Australian-trained Minstrel.
Two other pacers with Goulburn Valley connections also look bound for the pacers final.
Former Avenel-trained pacer Max Delight had no luck in his heat won by Minstrel, being forced to raced outside that pacer for the entire trip, but boxed on gamely into third place for trainer David Aiken and Shepparton reinsman Nathan Jack.
Murchison north trainer Shane Sanderson’s dream of winning an Inter Dominion was still very much alive when his talented pacer Dangerous, driven by his son, in-form reinsman Ryan, finished third in his heat to Captains Knock.
In the Inter Dominion Trotters Championship heats former Shepparton-trained The Locomotive made the pace and held on to beat the Peter Manning-trained Plymouth Chub who ran a great race to finish second and eject himself into one of the main hopes to win the series.
The other trotters heat was won impressively by the Brent Lilley-trained and driven bonny mare Queen Elida in considerably quicker time than The Locomotive.
The second round of the pacers and trotters heats of the Inter Dominion are being held at Bathurst on Wednesday night over the shorter 1730m distance with the final heats over 2300m at Menangle on Saturday night with the $500,000 final at Menangle the following Saturday night, December 14.
