LOCALLY owned pacer Little Sonny Bill has qualified to contest this month’s 2012 Inter Dominion Championship to be held at Gloucester Park in Perth.
Little Sonny Bill was ranked number 29 when final acceptances were taken on Monday, so he has made it through to contest the series as Harness Racing Western Australia are keen to have nine runners in each of the planned four heats.
Little Sonny Bill has a top winning strike rate of 20 wins from 88 starts and he finished third in the Fremantle Pacing Cup Consolation late last month for WA trainer Murray Hansen.
The consistent pacer is sure to give his Sunraysia-based owners Brad Winslow, Wayne Mayne, Graeme ‘Wally’ Walters and Shane Noonan a big thrill by contesting the Inter Dominion.
The heats of the 2012 Inter Dominion will be run on February 17, 20 and 24 with the $1m grand final to be held at Gloucester Park on Friday, March 2.
Leading WA driver Gary Hall Jnr is a regular driver of Little Sonny Bill and he will also partner the current favorite for the series in Im Themightyquinn.
Hall Jnr contested the Invitation Driver Series at the Mildura Harness Racing meeting last Friday night.
He is back in Perth and is looking forward to the Inter Dominion series with Im Themightyquinn, who is primed after recent wins in the Fremantle Cup and the WA Pacing Cup.
“He (Im Themightyquinn) is ticking over nicely after his two cup wins and he is now getting ready for the Inter,” Hall Jnr said.
“I am sick of seeing the photo of the previous Inter Dominion held here in Perth when I finished second (behind Jofess) so I am hoping that we can win it this time.”
Impressive local wins
MERBEIN South pacer Superstar Xpress sizzled around the City Oval Paceway to break the previous track record at the Mildura Harness Racing meeting last Friday night.
The record was held by the fast class pacer Onefootinthegrave, but Superstar Xpress took it with a 1:56.7 mile rate.
Superstar Xpress was racing out of his class as he was assessed as a C3 horse in the Workers Bistro 121 Pace which was for horses in the C4 to C6 class range.
But he was keen to run after finding the lead with Rebecca Bartley in the sulky and he proved too strong for his more fancied rivals.
Superstar Xpress paid $70 for a win on SuperTab which put the value in the quaddie.
The winning dividend at the meeting paid a handsome $78,813.20.
“His previous run at Ouyen was very good as he got into a lot of trouble during the race,” trainer Terry Gange said.
“I ran him out of his class to get a good front row draw as he does race very well when he leads.
“I did have concerns about being able to get across the two horses drawn inside him at the start.”
It was also a top training performance by Frank Mercieca of Cardross to get the five-year-old mare Blissful Babe in winning form in the Park Douglas Printing Pace Final.
Blissful Babe was previously prepared by Linton Power at Marungi (near Shepparton) and she was placed twice in 13 starts before having more than a year off the racing scene.
She recommenced racing for the Mercieca stable last month.
Blissful Babe put in an eye-catching performance to run second at her return from the long spell at Mildura on January 26.
With added fitness and a top drive by Ellen Tormey she was able to bring up her first race win with the 4.8m victory.
Track closed Monday
THE Mildura Harness Racing Club advises trainers and owners that the City Oval Paceway will be closed for all private training next Monday, February 13.
This is due to repairs and maintenance being carried out on the track.
Upcoming meetings
THE Nyah Harness Racing Club will hold its next meeting on Wednesday night, February 15.
Feature events are the C6 or better Pace and the C3 to C5 Pace.
Nominations close with Harness Racing Victoria at noon today.
The Mildura Harness Racing Club will hold its next meeting on Wednesday night, February 22, featuring the Piscioneri Transport Services Pace for C6 or better class pacers.
Horses to follow
THIS week’s list of horses to follow are: Stirling Charmer, Our Malabar, Hollywood Bromac, Pocket Boy, Abettorpunt, Flying Pocketlands and Franco Tijuana.
This article appeared in Thursday's Sunraysia Daily 09/02/2012.
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