by Jerry Connors

Gloucester Park, Perth, Western Australia — The brilliant Lennytheshark, a son of Four Starzzz Shark out of an Albert Albert mare, sat in the “death seat” — parked without cover — outside the leader for more than 1-1/2 miles Sunday (Dec. 13), yet still kicked away late to win the most prestigious harness race in the Southern Hemisphere, the A$1.3 million Tabtouch Inter Dominion Grand Final.

Driver Chris Alford, who added this win to his 1995 Inter Dominion victory with Golden Reign, took to heart the comments coming from the camp of Lovers Delight N, who drew the rail for the Grand Final and said, “We ARE racing on the lead,” and Alford was content from barrier three (they started nine-across on what we know as a half-mile track, with a trailer) to sit the grueling parked trip with Lennytheshark, who rated 11-10 favoritism off of two wins and a second in his three Inter-Dom trials.

Alford sat patiently with his horse as wide moves from the back proved ineffective and the inside horses struggled to keep up, then urged him on the far turn and the 6-year-old grabbed on the bit and surged past Lovers Delight N and driver Chris Lewis through the final straight, winning by about 1-1/2 lengths. The next three finishers hugged the inside in getting their respective finishes.

The final time for 2,538 meters (just over 1-9/16th miles, three circuits-plus around the half-miler) was 3:00 8/10 (mile rate 1:54 8/10), fractionally shy of the Gloucester Park mark for the distance set by the great Themightyquinn N.

The A$780,000 first money brought the earnings of Lennytheshark to A$1,450,992 for owners Kevin and Martin Riesley. Trainer David Aiken must have been proud to be bringing the Inter-Dom winning colors to the state of Victoria (southeast corner of mainland Australia; its capital Melbourne is second only to Sydney in the country) for the first time after a 15-year drought.

Tim Tetrick raced in and toured Western Australia during the long Inter Dominion carnival, and he posted a good record of five wins and three seconds in 20 starts — especially since at Gloucester, the main track in the state, only one of his 12 drives went off at under 19-1! He finished second in the International Drivers Competition, just missing catching a horse driven by Down Under legend Gavin Lang by a “half-head” (they have “short half-heads” too) in the final heat, a finish that would have given Tetrick the title were his horse more photogenic.