 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1987
INTERDOMINIONS
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| Jim O'Sulivan & Dick Lee savour the triumph |
"It's the biggest thrill ever; he's the best horse I've had, and I've had some good ones," said Jim O'Sullivan, returning with his 1987 Lion Brown Inter-Dominion Grand Champion.
In his regular acquisition of NZ horses, O'Sullivan almost invariably uses the services of former Australian John Devlin, professionally known as the South Auckland Standardbred Agency. Devlin, who in the last 10 years has secured something close to 80 horses for O'Sullivan's clients singled out Lightning Blue for him. "He was trained by Mike Berger at Morrinsville," recalled Devlin after the Final. "I watched him at the trials, saw him win at an on-course-only meeting at Cambridge and then run an unlucky second at Alexandra Park before recommending that Jim come and trial him.
Of the three owners only Mr Conidi was at Addington for the Grand Final. "Alan will be very upset about not being here," he said. "He saw all the bad luck in the heats, got called back home on urgent business and was unable to get back here for tonight." Although his horses have won many hundreds of races, Alan Hunter's biggest victory prior to Saturday night was in the $43,000 Cranbourne Cup last December with Saturday night's First Consolation winner Quite Famous, whom he owns outright.
Apart from securing Lightning Blue (who races in Australia as My Lightning Blue) from the O'Sullivan stable, Delvin is a quarter-share owner of the 4-year-old's sire, the Meadow Skipper horse Lonero. Lightning Blue's dam Lightning is by the good Hal Tryax horse Holy Hal (second to First Lee in the 1968 Inter-Dominion Final in Auckland and winner of two heats at the 1971 Addington Inter-Dominions). Lightning's dam Lightning Lass was by Lighterman Tom, remarkably still alive in South Canterbury, aged 40. By Light Brigade, Lighterman Tom is a half-brother to Cherry Blossom whose daughter Robin Dundee shared the Inter-Dominion title in Dunedin in 1965 with Jar Ar and was fifth in Melbourne in 1964, second to Chamfer's Star in Sydney in 1966 and fourth to Binshaw in Perth in 1967.
Lightning was the first venture into harness racing of Peter and Mrs Doris Miller, semi-retired farmers of Mystery Creek, near Hamilton airport. The bought Lightning on the advice of Ngaruawahia trainer Joe Goodyer after she had won a 2-year-old parade from the Mataura stable of Dave Todd, of Cardigan Bay fame.
Goodyer won two races with Lightning for the Millers, but her race career was cut short by injury incurred in a training spill. Before putting Lighting down in 1983, the Millers bred five foals from her, the three to have raced being Lightning Blue, Rainbow Light (winer of three before injured) and Millertime (sold at two and the winner of two races so far). The Millers are breeding from Rainbow Light (by Adover Rainbow) and are looking forward to racing with Mike Berger's wife Brenda and his father Geoff her first offspring, a yearling Tudor Hanover filly they have named Lightning Belle.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 19Mar87