Beautide successfully defended his Inter Dominion title on Sunday afternoon (March 1) at the TABCORP Park Menangle track in southwestern Sydney. Trained and driven by James "Jimmy" Rattray, the 7-year-old gelding by Bettor's Delight won in a mile rate time of 1:55 8/10th for the 3,009-meter distance.
Earlier on the afternoon, Natalie Rasmussen set out to make Menangle her own with three successive winners, she was overshadowed by one of the greatest pacers ever seen in the Southern Hemisphere...and one of the greatest race-winning performances ever witnessed at the southwestern Sydney track. And that's no small feat since Rasmussen won the Inter Dominion four times with her star pacer Blacks A Fake.
The champion New Zealand mare Adore Me, a daughter of Bettor's Delight, simply blew her rivals away with a record-breaking 1:47 7/10ths victory in the Cordina Chicken Farms Ladyship Mile, smashing Smoken Up’s record by eight-tenths of a second. She became the fastest mare in the world . . . yes, the world, breaking a record set by Somwherovrarainbow at Pocono Downs in the US in 2014 at 1:48. Put On A Show turned in a 1:47 3/5ths mile in the US.
Sitting outside of second favorite Frith, Adore Me smashed the track record set in 2011 and won the hearts of the massive crowd at Menangle for the TAB.COM.AU Inter Dominion Grand Final. They began applauding Adore Me as she surged away in the straight to win as she liked.
Rasmussen, who won the 2010 Inter Dominion with the legendary Blacks A Fake, won three of the first four races on the big day, but even she had to admit she was in awe of Adore Me’s performance as she put paid to Beauty Secret, Latteron and Frith by an amazing 18 and a half meters. Remember, these are the best mares in Australasia!
"This is the first time I have sat behind Adore Me in race conditions and she is so beautifully-gaited and has such a great temperament – and she goes like a machine,” Rasmussen said as she accepted the trophy from sponsor John Cordina.
Rasmussen’s partner, leading trainer Mark Purdon, was happy to step aside for a driver that connections rate among the best drivers in the world. And Rasmussen showed why, putting Adore Me into the 1609m event early in the piece and declaring Australia’s best mare Frith on for the lead in a lightning second quarter of 26.9 for an opening half of 54 seconds. She finished the race off with her last two quarters in 27.2s and 26.5s to set a record that will live long in the memory of all who were at Menangle. (with New South Wales Harness Racing Club files)