| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 1987
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| Jubilant part-owner Alan Hunter displays the Cup |
Melbourne businessman Alan Hunter, 52 year old co-owner of Inter-Dominion titleholder and yesterday's $300,000 Toyota NZ Trotting Cup winner Lightning Blue, has raced horses since he was 23.
"I bought my first horse, a Van Derby pacer named Great Effort, for a thousand pounds," he recalled. "I had to borrow money to do it, and I didn't know how to tell my father about it. He won a good few races for me, and I thought: 'This is easy.' I later found it wasn't so easy, but it hooked me on trotting. I have a few gallopers, including a jumper called Mister Mint, who could win our next Grand National Steeplechase; but I much prefer trotting and football to galloping."
Hunter estimates that he has won about 700 races with his horses. The bulk of this success has come since his profitable business involving cleaning chemicals and detergents has enabled him to spend up large since 1981. "I've had 78 winners at Moonee Valley since then," he said.
"My first NZ horse was Hubert Campbell, who won me 14 races and about $60,000. He was my favourite and a real top-liner. Since then, I've bought, through John Devlin, Paul Davies and other agents, at least a dozen Kiwi horses including My Surdon, One Happy Fella, Kilrush (who cost me $100,000, broke a pedal bone and didn't win me a race), Conga's Pride and That's Incredible. I tried to buy the NZ-bred Jay Bee's Fella, who has done so well in Western Australia, but the deal fell through; and he was beaten at the weekend so I might have been a bit lucky, as it was big bikkies involved. I pay a lot of money for good horses, but I would be ahead of it. It's a wonderful game, with wonderful people in it. Jim (O'Sullivan) is a super man with a horse, and a super man to know."
Hunter was obviously thrilled to be on hand to see Lghtning Blue's Cup win. "I went back to Melbourne at Inter-Dominion time, thinking I wasn't going to have a horse in the Final and opting to see a two-year-old race at Moonee Valley. As it turned out My Lightning Blue won the Final, my other horse here then, Quite Famous, won one of the consolations, and my youngster won at Mooney Valley all on the same night."
Yesterday, Hunter's partners in the horse, (Nes Conidi and Tony Prochilo) who had watched him win his Inter-Dominion Final, were both home in Melbourne.
Nothing made quite the smart start in the Cup as Skipper Dale. And this was rather unusual because Skipper Dale was off the second line and was fortunate to dash through a gap left by Sossy and Metal Mickey after only 70m. At the same time, Frangelico was being held up a place further out, Happy Sunrise broke briefly and Master Mood didn't make marvellous acceleration.
Tony Herlihy wisely sent Luxury Liner forward after 600 metres, and with two laps to run he was in front, ahead of Gaelic Skipper, Lightning Blue, Skipper Dale and Sossy. Four hundred metres later, Rum Brydon swept round, running hard, and he made the front near the 2000 metres. Jim O'Sullivan had Lightning Blue out of the trail at the same time, to sit in the 'death', outside Luxury Liner, and ahead of Gaelic Skipper.
The pace slackened near the mile and remained that way until near the 900 metres. Master Mood and Happy Sunrise were the last pair and facing an awfully difficult task, with the pace by now right on and Lightning Blue, Luxury Liner and Skipper Dale many lenghts in front of them.
On the corner, O'Sullivan had made his move passing Rum Brydon and receiving very generous response from Lightning Blue.
Herlihy, with more hope than confidence, sent Luxury Liner into the attack, Patrick O'Reilly joined in with Skipper Dale and Sossy came too. But Lightning Blue, showing the same extraordinary strength and courage of eight months ago, was quite supreme in the end, winning by a length and a quarter, with a short neck and three-quarters of a length between the others.
Rolls Hanover made progress strongly near the end which was commendable allowing for the fact he pulled a punctured tyre for the last 1400 metres.
The time of the race was 4:05.13. Lightning Blue ran his last 2400m in 3:00.7, and his last 1600m in 2:00. The first 800m of that 1600m took an easy 1:03.4, and the last 800m followed in 56.6, the last 400m in 28.5.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HR Weekly
YEAR: 1987
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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
YEAR: 1987
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| Luxury Liner (outer) prevails in a blanket finish |
Some magnificent racing at Addington on Show Day was capped by the breathtaking finish in which New Zealand Cup runner-up Luxury Liner turned the tables on his victor Lightning Blue in the $100,000 Air New Zealand NZ Free-For-All.
This time honoured race has seldom failed to provide an exciting spectacle; Friday's had the crowd up on its toes and roaring as a dozen crack pacers bore down to the wire in a group that could in the end have been covered by a tarpaulin. The gutsy Lightning Blue had again worked early and sat parked, and this time he had to contend with the spriting abilities of Happy Sunrise, who zoomed around to replace Master Mood in front 1400 metres out. Jim O'Sullivan, Victorian trainer-driver of Lightning Blue, aware of Happy Sunrise's reputation, decided he couldn't let that rival his own way and that he had to apply pressure. When Happy Sunrise shook him off momentarily straightening, it appeared that the Methven wonder - whose sale to Queensland at a reputedly huge but undisclosed price was clinched on the eve of the race - was going to embellish his outstanding local record with another win. But somehow Lightning Blue, under hard driving from O'Sullivan, delivered up more. Nearing the finish it was Lightning Blue in charge again, with Happy Sunrise dying in the hole.
Then, from the centre of the pack, Luxury Liner, who had been three back on the rail most of the way and then all over the place in the run home as Tony Herlihy searched for a split for him, exploded to the wire to take a photo decision by a nose. O'Sullivan couldn't believe it. "You must have caught me in the very last stride," he said to Herlihy as they returned to greet the judge. "I didn't even see you; I thought I had won." Thrilled with the way Luxury Liner had performed, Herlihy said that it was well inside the last 100 yards that he had secured an opening to shoot for. It capped a great week for the Reids, of Waiuku, owners of Luxury Liner and of Fay Richwhite Sires' Stakes runner-up Top Vance.
Only half-head from Lightning Blue, Frangelico, who had been fairly handy throughout, fought strongly for third, with another half-head to Levendi, who finished boldly along the rail. Unused to the angle, Levendi's driver Glen Wolfenden thought he may even have won.
After the first mile of the race had been cut out in a remarkable 1:56 the pressure was kept on. The last 800m required 58.1 and the final 400m in 28.3, with the total time for the mobile 2000m 2:26.4 - a 1:57.8 rate.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HR Weekly
YEAR: 1987
INTER-DOMINION
Never before in the history of Inter-Dominion conflict has the cream of NZ pacing and trotting talent been so comprehensively beaten on its own soil as last Saturday night at Addington.
It was all "Waltzing Matilda" as Victorian 4-year-old Lightning Blue, Paleface Bubble fron New South Wales and Queensland's Sunset Candios outgunned the Kiwis (headed by Skipper Dale, Luxury Liner and Master Mood) in the $350,000 1987 Lion Brown Inter-Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final. It was "Irish Eyes Are Smiling" for Lightning Blue's likeable Melton trainer/driver Jim O'Sullivan who produced a 100% result also carrying off the First Consolation with the Grand Champion's stablemate Quite Famous.
And it was "Victorious Victoria" as Game Ebony, trained and driven by Dick Lee, triumphed gallantly in the $35,000 Curtins Farm Trotting Free-For-All, thereby halting the outstanding winning streak of champion NZ mare Tussle. The only crumb from "the Met's" lavishly-laid Inter-Dominion table salvaged on the night for NZ was Saucy Star's win for the Ian Cameron stable in the Second Consolation. And, on reflection, the Kiwis were probably saved from a complete whitewash by the fact that Lightning Blue had the wonderful fortune to graduate from Saucy Star's race into the Grand Final with the scratching from the big event of Lightning Blue's arch rival, the brilliant fellow Victorian Bag Limit.
"Thank goodness they didn't bring any 3-year-olds over here," said Tai Tapu trainer Bill Denton at the end of the night. He was inferring, no doubt, that Emcee, his stable's winner of the $25,000 National Bloodstock 3-Year-Old Championship, as impressive as he was, was probably lucky he had to face no opposition from across the Tasman.
Not counting Junior's Image (who won and was disqualified on dope charges in 1971), this was Australia's first Pacing Grand Final win in six series at Addington. But they have had better luck at Auckland, scoring with First Lee in 1968 and Gammalite in 1983, and Australian stables have produced the winners of the eight Pacing Grand Finals at other venues since Rondel scored for NZ at the previous Addington Inter-Dominions eight years back.
Admittedly, the three latest Grand Champions - Preux Chevalier, Village Kid and now Lightning Blue - were all bred in NZ; and this is going to have an excellent spin-off from the point of view of Australian demand for our stock. But what must be a source of consternation to the NZ harness racing fraternity in general is the supremacy of the Australians over us now showing on the results board. The honours list reveals that the Inter-Dominions have been run 46 times; NZ has produced 13 outright Grand Champions as well as the 1965 Dunedin deadheaters; Australia's tally now advances to 32 - New South Wales and Victoria eight apiece, South Australia and West Australia six each, Tasmania four. NZ produced six of the first 10 Pacing Grand Final winners, and from 1960 to 1965 it had three outright winners and two deadheaters. This was the purple patch for us.
What do we have to do to reassume such dominance? It could well be that, with such a busier roster of feature racing from State to State for the top horses, and with competition for these so fierce, the Australian horses have to train and race harder a lot more often than is the case here. Vinny Knight, at one stage of the Addington carnival, when speaking admiringly of his outstanding representative Bag Limit (who must have been the one to beat had he not been forced by injury to stand down from the Final) referred to "Aussie guts". At the time it sounded like a bit of skite. After Saturday night it seems a very accurate way of describing something the Australian horses were able to produce at the end of this testing four-night series that the Kiwis appeared not to be able to find.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 19Mar87