 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1980
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Scotch Tar & Slim Dykeman |
Slim Dykman is rapidly becoming one of the great characters and favourites of those racing at Addington.
There was a time when any indiscretion in his driving tactics drew the ire of the stipes and the vocal wrath of the crowd. But these days Slim and his amazing little trotter Scotch Tar can do very little wrong. The Addington crowd loves them. Mind you, they have given fans a lot to talk about over the last couple of seasons. But never more so than over the recent Cup carnival.
Slim capped of a mighty couple of weeks with an effortless win in the country's premier trot, the Dominion Handicap, fulfilling a prophecy he made after winning the race two years ago when he told the multitude: "It occurs to me that we should do this again some time." If Slim's comments brought the house down then, his larconic sense of humour came to the fore again the other night to a similar reception. "The first thing that comes to mind," he said after accepting the trophy, "is the Telethon theme song Thank You Very Much For Your Kind Donation." And well the Club might have thought the Dominion was a formality for the brilliant son of Tarport Coulter and Scotch Penny and the $22,750 chegue Slim's for the writing.
In winning on the first day of the carnival he set a New Zealand record of 3:21.1 for 2600 metres; on Show Day he set a blazing pace to burn off some of the best pacers in the country to run the first mile of the New Zealand Free-For-All in an incredible 1:57.4; on the first night he failed by just a tenth of a second on his own to beat Nigel Craig's time trial time of 1:58.8. Slim Dykman was right on the ball when he told the crowd that Scotch Tar had been "racing something furious over the last weeks and we've got very little to show for it. Winning the best paying trotting race has made it all worthwhile," he said.
Called out a wag in the crowd: "The taxmans here Slim," referring to Mr Muldoon who was on hand to see his colt run in the two-year-old event. Called back Slim, as quick as a flash: "He's not getting any of that." Only minutes before another with a sense of humour among the crowd had called out to the P.M.: "You wanna get one like that Rob." Mr Muldoon could only agree.
Scotch Tar won the Dominion in the end by two and a half lengths from an improved Stormy Morn with Game Way and No Response deadheating for third. Scotch Tar began slowly from the ten metre mark but had soon overcome his handicap to sit in the open outside Game Way, content temporarily at least to let Trevor Thomas and Stormy Morn bowl along in the lead. The "champion" had made the front by the 1400 metres and from then on the result was never in doubt. Just as Scotch Tar made the lead, Stormy Morn tried to make it harder for him but there wasn't much use trying to pressure Scotch Tar out of it. Once in the lead he just trotted along comfortably; he might as well have been jogging around the track at home. He wasn't wasting any time over the last bit, however. His last half was cut out in less than a minute. His overall time was 4:16.6, a far cry from his record 4:11.6 of two years ago.
Thomas was well-pleased to get second money. "I tried to make it hard for the winner at one stage but there's no point in being a big man and burning yourself out and getting nothing either," he said. "We really had no show with Scotch Tar; I got a bit closer to him nearer home, but he was just having us on," Thomas said. Game Way ran an honest race for his placing while No Response ran on reasonably well to share third. Northern mare Thriller Dee broke at the start but recovered to get up for fifth ahead of Kate's Return and Hano Direct who moved up with a round to go.
Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar