Champion Blacks A Fake can now lay claim to being the best pacer of all time following his historic victory in the $1million Watpac Inter Dominion Grand Final at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Sunday afternoon.

Winning an unprecedented fourth Inter Dominion, Blacks A Fake did it the hard way by racing three-wide for the last 800 metres.

Washakie led from the pole for trainer-driver John McCarthy while Bondy (barrier eight) and Smoken Up (10) also showed speed and took up the one-one and spot outside the leader respectively.

The lead time was run in 48.0 and the first half in a quick 58.5 (30.0, 28.5).

Our Awesome Armbro sat behind the frontrunner while Atomic Ark, a stablemate of Blacks A Fake, was three-pegs with Blackie one-out two-back just in front of race favourite Monkey King with a lap to travel.

Changeover, Baileys Dream and Mr Feelgood bought up the tail with 800 metres to go.

Trainer-driver Natalie Rasmussen put Blacks A Fake into the race with a half remaining, coming three-wide without cover with Ricky May (Monkey King) quickly seizing the chance to snare the trail.

With the third quarter in 28.3, the field packed up turning for home, with Washakie just in front of Smoken Up and Blacks A Fake looming up to them strongly.

Releasing the brakes on the nine-year-old, the son of Fake Left quickly pounced on the leaders and despite being challenged by Monkey King, produced his customary fight to hold his rival at the finish.

Smoke Up fought on gallantly to hold third, just in front of Changeover, who flashed home, with Bondy finishing fifth.

The final quarter of 27.9 produced a sensational 1:53.8 mile rate – a world record! The victory also saw Blacks A Fake become the richest standardbred of all time, with earnings of $4, 179, 693.

“What can I say? He is a sensational horse, I love him,” a delighted Rasmussen said after the event.

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:

Last week the preliminary heats were held with the favourites reigning supreme in three of the races, but a few surprise roughies stepping up to fill the minor placings ahead of their higher seeded rivals.

The top 10 pacers at the end of the night will get their chance at the $1million final on Sunday March 7 at Menangle.

ID10 Heat 5:

The first Qualifying heat this Saturday night sees last week’s Heat 1 winner Atomic Arc jump from barrier four. Atomic Ark caused the upset of the preliminary heats when the $25.70 outsider narrowly beat home the $2.50 favourite Changeover by a half neck with I Am Sam ($8.70) in third.

Despite their win last week, the Natalie Rasmussen-trained gelding looks outclassed this week and will need a whole lot of luck to finish in the top two and move on to the final.

Atomic Arc faces some strong competitors including the Barastoc Grand Circuit winner Washakie who ran second to Bondy in heat four last week. Prepared and driven by John McCarthy, Washakie has drawn wide for Saturday’s run starting from barrier ten.

Others to watch in the first heat this week include the Lance Justice-trained Smoken Up, drawn ideally in barrier two and Mark Peace’s Cincinnati Kid.

The talented Smoken Up ran third to Blacks A Fake last week while it was a slightly disappointing finish Cincinnati Kid in the third preliminary heat when they ran a well beaten fifth to Monkey King.

Smoken Up is likely to start as the favourite in the opening heat and his blessed barrier two start should be a breeze in comparison to his inside back row draw last week.

ID10 Heat 6:

Lining up in the nine-horse second Qualifying heat on Saturday night is the stunning winner of heat 4 last week, the David Butt trained and driven Bondy. The Live Or Die gelding has won 22 of his 41 career starts and has displayed impressive recent form winning his past three successive races. The Hunter Cup winner Bondy has drawn ideally in barrier two.

Bondy currently sits second on the ID10 points tally with 15.

Starting on the outside of the sure to be favourite is the Keith Cotchin-trained five-year-old Tanabi Bromac in barrier three. The classy Victorian, currently ranked equal ninth with 10 points, ran a crafty third in their heat last week behind the overall ID10 points’ leader Monkey King, and will be ridden on Saturday by champion reinsman Greg Sugars who replaces Gavin Lang.

Other in-form pacers engaged in the 9:00pm heat include the consistent Changeover in barrier six and Gavin Lang’s Sammy Maguire in barrier four.

ID10 Heat 7:

The third heat this Saturday sees the gifted Monkey King starting from barrier three. Monkey King is currently the highest ranked Inter Dominion contender with 17 points and the odds-on favourite to take out the 2010 series. The Sands A Flyin gelding looks well positioned to lead all the way on Saturday night as his brilliant barrier draw and sensational gate speed should see him hit the front early.

Victorian I Am Sam is also running in the 9:30pm heat and has drawn well in barrier two. The giant Alan Tubbs trained pacer ran third last week behind Atomic Ark and Changeover but faces a tough field this round.

Drawn on the far outside in barrier ten is Karloo Mick while Our Awesome Armbro, a runner-up last week, stands a solid chance after securing barrier one.

ID10 Heat 8:

The final heat at Harold Park this Saturday features another star studded field, headlined by Blacks A Fake. Trainer-driver Natalie Rasmussen will be aboard the Fake Left gelding for the second-round following their success in the second heat last week. Blacks A Fake is seeking their fifth consecutive victory, but has drawn wide with barrier nine.

The other quality runner in the 10:00pm heat is Mr. Feelgood in barrier five, but no matter what the quality of rivals, they will have a hard time defeating the three time Inter Dominion champion Blacks A Fake.

The four second round Heats for the 2010 Inter Dominion are scheduled as races four (8:30pm), five (9:00pm), six (9:30pm) and seven (10:00pm) on Saturday night’s bumper nine-race programme.

WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Qualifying Heat 5:

WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Qualifying Heat 6:

WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Qualifying Heat 7:

WATPAC 2010 Inter Dominion Championship Qualifying Heat 8:

Four $40, 000 heats for the prestigious series will run and feature star-studded fields packed full of the nation’s most impressive and elite pacers.

All the big names will be there with Heat 1 looking to be the event of the night featuring I Am Sam drawn well in barrier one; the super consistent Karloo Mick in barrier three; in-form pacer Changeover in barrier six aiming for their fourth win from six starts; and the brilliant American-bred colt Mr Feelgood out wide in gate ten.

The second heat will be another hotly contested affair with the Natalie Rasmussen trained and driven star Blacks A Fake in barrier four coming off three successive wins; the Gavin Lang’s classy Sammy Maguire in barrier seven; and the prolific Lance Justice trained Smoken Up in the back row barrier eight.

Heat three sees the fantastic New Zealand pacer Monkey King (br.4) come up against the likes of Cincinnati Kid (br.5) and Tanabi Bromac (br.6) in a top class front row full of in-form runners in for a real chance not only in this heat but the series overall.

Finishing off with Heat 4, punters have another thrilling matchup on their hands with John McCarthy’s Washakie in barrier seven, the consistently good Bondy drawn well in barrier two and other great pacers including Western Cam in barrier five fighting it out to qualify for the next round.

The 2010 Watpac Inter Dominion Championship heats will run as races 4 – 7 on the meeting’s fantastic nine race programme and will commence at 8:00pm (NSW time).

Three-year-old Courage To Rule ($11) defeated Lincoln Royal ($5.20) by 1.5m with star Queensland-trained pacer Lanercost ($10.20) a further 1.2m back in third.

Courage To Rule’s sire Courage Under Fire also won a Victoria Derby back in 1999.

Eventual runner-up, Lincoln Royal led going into the second quarter after running a mild paced first quarter of 31.0s.

The second quarter was run in 31.7s, just after which Lincoln Royal started to really pick up the pace leading by 4m ahead of the odds-on favourite Major Bronski ($4.10).

By this stage in the third quarter, Courage To Rule was still only sitting in fourth position behind Lanercost.

Major Bronski shortened the gap between him and Lincoln Royal to only 2m as the hectic 27.7s third quarter played out.

Lanercost then moved into the sprint lane while Courage To Rule made his move on the outside putting in a sensational chase over the final metres.

It was the three Kiwis fighting it out over the closing stages, Lanercost on the inside beside Lincoln Royal with Courage To Rule on the end.

But it was Courage To Rule who crossed the line first for his fifth win from 21 career starts, having now won over $287 000 in prizemoney.

In the end Major Bronski, who threatened the lead nearly all the way, lost pace and could only manage to finish fourth putting an end to his incredible nine-race winning streak.

The winner’s driver Greg Bennett was fined along with Lincoln Royal’s reinsman Maurice McKendry while Lanercost’s trainer-driver Darrel Graham was cautioned for his lack of control.

Meanwhile, the final ever harness race held at the Moonee Pond circuit was the $20 000 BIG6 Country Clubs Championship Final (2100m) won by Strident. The win gave prolific driver Gavin Lang his 1029^th win at the Moonee Valley track, the most of any reinsman.

2010 Alabar Victoria Derby Results:

Starting the race as the $5.10 favourite, Bondy beat home Karloo Mick ($9.40), who had a beautiful run on the inside, by 2.9m with the Gary Hall-trained Im Themightyquinn ($6.60) 1.7m back again for third.

In an impressive display of speed and stamina, Bondy led after 200m and held on to the front position throughout the entire race.

It wasn’t always an easy run, with lots of pressure to maintain the lead coming from both sides. Lance Justice’s Smoken Up ($5.70) sat three wide on the outside of Bondy before Victoria Cup winner Bettors Strike ($7.40) also moved up and the three sat alongside each other into the home straight.

In the final quarter the two pacers applying pressure tiered, with Smoken Up finishing seventh while Bettors Strike dropped right back to twelfth.

As the chasers faded, Karloo Mick, who had travelled well behind Bondy throughout held on gallantly for second while Im Themightyquinn moved up and through the weary field to finish third.

On the final turn the David Butt trained and driven winner had widened his lead to a commanding six metres, but Karloo Mick put in a gallant chase to shorten the eventual margin to just under 3 metres.

The winning Live Or Die gelding ran a solid mile rate of 2:01.7s over the challenging 3065m standing start event, for his 21^st win from 40 career starts. It was only his second start in Australia following his debut at Ballarat the previous week.

Bondy will now be aimed at the Watpac Inter Dominion Pacing Championship beginning on 19 February.

The other big pacing events on the night were the $200 000 Group 1 Alabar Victoria Derby won by Courage To Rule, and the fast finishing $30 000 Group 3 4YO Bonanza where Living On Fire ($7.10) claimed victory just half a head in front of Village Of Dreams ($8.20) with the Geoff Webster-trained favourite Mister Zion ($1.60) in third.

2010 BIG6 Hunter Cup Results: