Cameron Hart was not the only New South Wales driver to taste Inter Dominion glory at Melton on Saturday night, with drivers from his home state clean sweeping the Stewart Tonkin Pony Trot Inter Dominion Finals.
Topping it off, the winning drivers both came from the Tamworth club, a 13-hour drive to Melton.
“For just a small club to have three ponies make a clean sweep of the series is a real achievement,” Pony Trots Victoria manager Jenni Lewis said.
Leading the charge was driver Reba Brown, who took out not only the pony trot final but also the mini trot final.
The 10-year-old said in a post race interview she was a little nervous but this was her biggest thrill to date.
Her pony, Mr Fantangle, won his division after being very keen to get going in the early stages, bucking away.
Brown displayed great skill to get her pony back into a trot and, despite a late challenge from Queensland driver Briana Davis and her pony Toogoodforyou, Mr Fantangle was too strong over the line.
“The leader now is Mr Fantangle, it’s lifting, it’s lifting to the roars of the crowd and Mr Fantangle and Reba Brown are going to go on and win it,” racecaller Dan Milecki announced.
It was a much different start for Brown in the Mini ID22 Final with her drive Just Jack stepping away perfectly from their 590m handicap.
Once finding the lead around the home turn Just Jack remained there to hold off Tasmanian driver Kenzie Rattray and fellow NSW driver Mason Bigeni and Flash in third.
In the Shetland ID22 Final success went to fellow Tamworth driver Rylee Kiddle and Mr Rocketfuel.
After racing keenly early, Kiddle had a strong hold on Mr Rocketfuel throughout the feature with the pair recording a strong win over South Australian driver Marnee Formosa and Super Mario in second, and NSW driver George Lee and Sir Eric in third.
“All the children were very excited to receive their rugs and trophies,” said Lewis.
“We made it a real event along the way and built up the excitement leading into the finals.
“All of our Pony Trot Victoria kids competed in at least one heat of the Inter Dominion and some of the kids that didn’t drive in the finals lent their ponies to the New Zealand drivers, which was sweet.
“A real camaraderie developed with the participants through all of the events and there was a lot of cheering and support for those competing in the finals.
“Hopefully these new friendships have a great flow-on affect and many of the participants will meet again with a few of our Victorian ponies going up to compete in the championships at Easter.”