Harold Park is gearing up for this Sunday when the course is set to host the pacing feature of the year, the lucrative and highly anticipated $1 million grand final of the Group 1 WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship.
The clear pre-race favourite currently at odds of $2.25 with SportsBet is Monkey King. The stunning son of Sands A Flyin is coming off a string of sensational successes lately. The seven-year-old New Zealander has won his past three races in succession including his brilliant last-start victory in his Inter Dominion heat last Saturday.
Monkey King is due to be driven by big race specialist Ricky May on Sunday and will start from barrier six.
The big winner from the Inter Dominion barrier draw was the John McCarthy-trained Washakie who secured the prized inside barrier. Washakie blew away his rivals last week in the opening heat, defeating the warm favourite Smoken Up by nearly two lengths.
A six-year-old Badlands Hanover gelding, Washakie will have McCarthy behind the reins for his Inter Dominion berth and is currently the third favourite for the final at $4.60.
The second elect for the 2010 Inter Dominion Championship at $4.00 is the dazzlingly consistent Natalie Rasmussen trained and driven Fake Left gelding Blacks A Fake. Blacks A Fake has also drawn extremely well for Sunday’s feature with barrier three.
Other top contenders for the WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Grand Final are Our Awesome Armbro (Br. 2), Baileys Dream (Br.6), Bondy (Br.8) and Lance Justice’s Victorian hopeful Smoken Up drawn wide in the far outside barrier ten.
Sunday will be the third Inter Dominion Final in a row for Smoken Up and the son of Tinted Cloud will have his work cut out if he is to improve on his third and ninth place finishes.
The line-up at Menangle’s Harold Park this Sunday afternoon is incredible and features nine other major harness events including the $25, 000 TAB BIG6 Cup (Race 4 – 2:35pm), WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Consolation (Race 7 – 4:22pm) and a number of other top-class finals.
The big event of the evening, the Inter Dominion Championship Final will run as race eight at 5:00pm.
The other feature pacing event to watch over the weekend is the $30, 000 Group 3 Bullock Consulting Devonport Cup in Devonport on Sunday night – race seven at 7:50pm.
WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Grand Final Field & Barrier Draw:
Br. |
Form |
Horse |
Trainer |
Driver |
Class |
| 1 | 11921 |
WASHAKIE (NZ) |
J P McCarthy | John McCarthy | C22 M16 |
| 2 | 81023 |
OUR AWESOME ARMBRO (NZ) |
G C Small | David Butcher | C18 M11 |
| 3 | 11111 |
BLACKS A FAKE |
N C Rasmussen | Natalie Rasmussen | C47 M37 |
| 4 | 24213 |
ATOMIC ARC |
N C Rasmussen | - | C18 M13 |
| 5 | 4s111 |
MONKEY KING (NZ) |
B R Hill | Ricky May | C25 M19 |
| 6 | 3s334 |
BAILEYS DREAM (NZ) |
B R Hill | - | C19 M13 |
| 7 | 21124 |
CHANGEOVER (NZ) |
G C Small | David Butcher | C26 M20 |
| 8 | s1111 |
BONDY (NZ) |
D J Butt | David Butt | C22 M16 |
| 9 | 22042 |
MR FEELGOOD (USA) |
T G Butt | Anthony Butt | C22 M17 |
| 10 | 22732 |
SMOKEN UP (NZ) |
L J Justice | Lance Justice | C25 M20 |
| 11 | 15343 |
SAMMY MAGUIRE (NZ) Em.1 |
G A Lang | Gavin Lang | C13 M3 |
| 12 | 12962 |
BE GOOD JOHNNY Em. 2 |
J P McCarthy | - | C28 M23 |
