Some of the bits and pieces that caught Tim O'Connor's eye in the world of harness racing...
THE HERO
DAN MIELICKI
The hero has to be our sport's great caller, Dan Mielicki, who is this week being celebrated for 30 years with Harness Racing Victoria.
One of the nation’s most respected sports broadcasters joined his HRV colleagues at the Epsom Road headquarters on Wednesday to reflect on his journey and will call the Dan Mielicki 30 Years Of Excellence Pace this Saturday night at Melton Entertainment Park.
Just a quick glance at the social media channels this week (click here to read the comments on Facebook) would show you how popular and loved Dan is within the industry, and it has been a major personal highlight to have worked alongside him.
Bravo, Dan. Here’s to another 30!
HOW GOOD WAS…
WHITE HOT!
It was great to see Bill and Ian White combine for a long-odds victory at Charlton on Monday.
Bill, 90, prepared three-year-old filly Modern Hope to win the USA Charlton Partnership Maiden Trot, with 66-year-old son Ian steering the daughter of Pastor Stephen to victory at her 13th career start.
The result was Ian’s first success in the sulky since 2021 and Bill’s first of the season as a trainer.
And well done if you found Modern Hope… she had not finished closer than 19.9m to the winner in her 12 prior career starts!
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR…
ANOTHER BLOCKBUSTER NIGHT AT THE CREEK!
Plenty of eyes will be on the big meeting at Albion Park on Saturday night.
The 10-race card features five heats of the Inter Dominion series (three for pacers and two for trotters), as well as the $500,000 Protostar slot race for two-year-olds.
Check out the fields here.
FROM THE RACING OFFICE...
No heats for the Australian Pacing Gold Melbourne Graduate Trotting Series will be conducted due to an insufficient number of nominations.
Two-year-olds that were nominated for heats automatically qualify for respective $50,000 finals, which are scheduled for Melton on July 25.
ONE FOR THE BLACK BOOK...
REMUS PHOENIX
Chris Svanosio’s charge is airborne and should be winning when he finds a good barrier draw.
After scoring in style at Melton on June 14, Remus Pheonix has broken the clock from back and wide through the last lap against good opposition his last two and looks to be in great form ahead of his next assignment.
JACKPOT CASH
A bumper First 4 pool is expected on the opening race at Melton this Saturday night, the Nevele R Stud Free For All.
The TAB has committed to a $10,000 jackpot and is tipping a $50,000 pot.
SOMETHING TO PONDER...
Listening to AFL commentator Gerard Healy on the way home from work this week, I was quite engaged with a question he put to the Sports Day audience regarding his seven top sporting events, asking which ones they’d most like to attend.
They included the AFL and NRL grand finals, the Australian Open men’s singles decider, the first day of the Boxing Day Test and the Melbourne Cup.
It got me thinking about which of harness racing’s biggest features would owners most love to win.
Is it the time-honoured Inter Dominion Grand Final – and if so, for pacers or trotters? – or one of this state’s big classics, the Victoria Cup or AG Hunter Cup?
The Miracle Mile will sit on top for many, while from a financial point of view some might look to slot features such as the Eureka or Protostar.
Or, maybe, it’s a race that belongs overseas, such as the world-renowned Elitloppet or Little Brown Jug.
For me, it’s the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final, closely followed by the Great Southern Star. There’s something about the history of the Inter Dom that just pulls at the heart strings, while I love the heats-into-final concept of the GSS and the horsemanship required to win it at the elite level.
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The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.