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The temperature was certainly turned up both on and off the track last Saturday night at Cannington with the running of the heats of the Group 1 $210,000 Perth Cup and the Group 1 $120,000 Galaxy.

Eastern state nominations were down this year due to the heatwave conditions however it was a case of quality rather than quantity. The Perth Cup heats were dominated by the east coast raiders however the locally owned and trained UNO RELTUB defied the trend qualifying in the last heat for trainer Linda Britton.

The box draw for the Perth Cup (530m) is as follows:

Box 1. HESTON BALE (VIC)
Box 2. OAKS ROAD (NSW)
Box 3. MEPUNGA GEORDIE (VIC)
Box 4. GLEN GALLON (QLD)
Box 5. LEKTRA JAY (VIC)
Box 6. UNO RELTUB (WA)
Box 7. THINGS MISSING (NSW)
Box 8. AUTOAMERICAN (VIC)

Res 1. HOT IRISH (WA)
Res 2. FIFTY SIX CHEVI (WA)

The Galaxy heats sore a number of short priced favourites salute with the highlight being MIATA winning again. MIATA overcame a slow messy start to run away with an 11.25 length victory to extend her career record to 21 starts for 18 wins and a total of $79,065 in stakes. She will be the favourite to salute in the final and win her first Group race.

The box draw for the Galaxy (715m) is as follows:

Box 1. FREEWAY FAME (WA)
Box 2. ZIPPING LAD (NSW)
Box 3. KALDEN MAYHEM (SA)
Box 4. MIATA (WA)
Box 5. SHIMAGUNI (VIC)
Box 6. KALDEN ATHENA (WA)
Box 7. KALDEN PETRONI (SA)
Box 8. MORTAL COMBAT (WA)

Res 1. FREEWAY MILES (WA)
Res 2. KALDEN ABUBO (WA)

Both finals are at Cannington this Saturday 4 February and a record crowd is anticipated to watch these 2 great races and the emergence of the WA star MIATA.

The all-important $400,000 SEW-Eurodrive WA Pacing Cup barrier draw was conducted this afternoon at a gala function at the Frasers Restaurant overlooking Perth City and the Swan River.
The SEW-Eurodrive WA Pacing Cup barrier draw is as follows:
1. Rakarebel – Kim Prentice
2. Dasher VC – Chris Lewis
3. Mr Feelgood – Luke McCarthy
4. Raglan – Anthony Butt
5. Real Life – Donald Harper
6. Washakie – John McCarthy
7. Im Themightyquinn – Gary Hall Jr
8. Crombie – Morgan Woodley
9. Lightning Raider – Colin Brown
10. Lombo Navigator – Ryan Bell
11. Rocket Reign – Shannon Suvaljko
12. David Hercules – Mark Reed
1st Emergency – Mysta Magical Mach, 2nd Emergency – Can Return Fire

For the first time, five millionaire pacers have been nominated for a WA Pacing Cup headed by the American bred Mr Feelgood with a massive $3,274,157 in stakes, Im Themightyquinn $1,891,506, Lombo Pocket Watch $1,453,908, Washakie $1,290,845 and Has The Answers $1,144,744.
The combined earnings of that quintet of $9,055,160 is more than double the combined earnings of the 20 horses listed to start in last Saturday’s Perth Cup at Ascot. That field had combined earnings of $4,310,134.
No mare has been nominated for this year’s race and there are no four-year-olds on the list. The 2011 WA Pacing Cup field saw the mare Ima Spicey Lombo finish third and that race also included 4yos Dasher VC and Crombie.
This year will be the 99th running of the State’s premier harness race.
The field for the 2012 SEW-Eurodrive WA Pacing Cup will be released on Tuesday 10th January and barriers will be drawn at a special function later that afternoon.

Western Australia’s leading driver this season, Morgan Woodley has been chosen to represent his State in the 2012 Australasian Young Drivers Championship which will be held in Western Australia as part of the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion Championship carnival.
Woodley, who turned 23yo on November 30th, leads this season’s State Premiership with 71 winners and he is 15 winners clear of Gary Hall Jnr (56) and Colin Brown (50).
He drove 162 winners last season to finish runner-up to Chris Lewis (196) on the State Premiership. It was Woodley’s fourth successive season where he has passed the 100 wins mark.
Since he began driving in July 2005, Woodley has driven a remarkable tally of 746 winners with 355 of them in Perth and 203 in Metro Penalty races.
All these tallies are Western Australian records for a driver of Woodley’s age.
His win behind the Victorian trained 4yo Mustang Mach in the McInerney Ford 4yo Classic a fortnight ago was Woodley’s seventh Group One success.
The 2012 Australasian Young Drivers Championship will feature seven races at Pinjarra, Northam, Narrogin and Gloucester Park with the final heat being held on Inter Dominion Grand Final night at Gloucester Park.

BUMPER NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2012 V75 INTER DOMINION

The cream of Australasian harness racing have nominated for the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion to be staged at Gloucester Park next year. 77 nominations were received for the $1.78 Million series which kicks off on February 17 and will culminate with a $1 Million Grand Final on March 2.
Reigning Grand Circuit champion, Im Themightyquinn, will lead a strong list of local contenders against the rest of the ‘Dominion’. Im Themightyquinn will have solid support from leading trainers such as Greg Bond, who has nominate 13 horses and the in-form Tony Svilicich, entering seven runners. Svilicich has the same number entered as Ross Olivieri, whose team will be spearheaded by star five-year-olds Dasher VC and Crombie.
Miracle Mile winner Smoken Up heads the nominations for the Eastern states, along with $3 million earner and winner of the 2009 Inter Dominion, Mr Feelgood from the powerful Luke McCarthy stable. Team McCarthy will also attack the series with three time Treuer Memorial hero, Washakie and up and coming pacer, Mach Wiper.
Queensland’s Darrel Graham will aim his high profile pair of Lanercost and Courageous Annie at the V75 Inter Dominion. Lanercost has an imposing record of 27 wins from only 36 starts and was last season’s stand-out four-year-old, winning the Chariots Of Fire. Courageous Annie has won 10 from 14 starts, including the NSW Oaks and has clocked a sizzling 1.52.6 for the mile.
New Zealand have a strong contingent set to head West, with 10 horses being entered from across the Tasman. Mark Purdon and Tim Butt lead the way with 4 nominations apiece, while champion trainers Barry Purdon and Cran Dalgety each have a representative.
Tim Butt has nominated both of his Miracle Mile runners, Ragland and Lisagain, with Mark Purdon entering boom pacer Auckland Reactor, who has won 26 races from 37 starts and banked almost $1.5 million in stakes. Auckland Reactor started favourite in the 2009 Inter Dominion on the Gold Coast, won by Mr Feelgood.
Brian Hancock, who has won six Inter Dominions to earn the title of “Mr Inter Dominion”, has also thrown his hat into the ring by nominating the speedy Vegas Bound. Hancock first tasted Inters success over 30 years ago, driving Koala King to victory in 1980. He followed up 10 years later with a win as a trainer of Thorate, before creating history when he trained and drove Our Sir Vancelot to become the first horse to win three Inter Dominion crowns in the late 90’s.
“We are delighted with the number and the quality of the nominations” said Gloucester Park President, Mr John Burt.
“They are the best horses from both sides of the Tasman and with a return to the traditional format of racing in three heats to qualify for the $1 million Grand Final, we are set for one of the best Inter Dominion series of all time.”
The first round of rankings will be released by Racing and Wagering WA on Tuesday, December 13.

Nominations have been released for the Group 2 Golden River Developments Perth Cup and the Group 2 LD Total CB Cox Stakes.
Ranger, placed second behind Playing God in last Saturday’s Kingston Town Classic, has been entered for both events.
The son of Testa Rossa is one of six entrants from the Williams stable along with Lords Ransom, Battle Emblem, Tranquility, Western Jewel and Forever Special.
The powerful Patinack Farm operation will be represented by Saint Encosta who ran an eye-catching second behind Veracious in the Listed Japan Racing Association Trophy.
The CB Cox Stakes will be run on December 17 and the Perth Cup on December 31.

The Pinjarra Harness Racing Club has announced a stakes increase for their feature event: the Pinjarra Pacing Cup.

The Pinjarra Pacing Cup, first run and won by Royal Path in 1955, will carry prize money of $40,000 on Foundation Day, June 4.

Dates have also been finalised for the Super 9s, the Interdominion invited drivers race, the Mandurah Cup and a new Country Championship series at the end of the season.

The Super 9s will be held on the Labor Day Public Holiday, March 5, 2012, with each nine races carrying stake earnings of $10,000.

The Country Championship final will be run on Friday, July 13, after two heats on June 15 and July 6.

On February 27, 2012, Pinjarra Paceway will host a Monday meeting preceeding the $1 million Interdominion Championship held at Gloucester Park.

It will feature a heat of the Interdominion Young Drivers Championship that will see the best young drivers from Australiasia competing for a cash prize.

The Mandurah Cup, last run in the early 1990s,will be revamped and raced on Januray 9, 2012.

Competitors will be racing for $8,500 in prizemoney from a standing start for c10 and better pacers.

Champion reinsman Chris Lewis has been inducted into the Western Australian Institute of Sports Hall of Champions.
The idea of a Western Australian sporting Hall of Champions was originally put forward by the Sportswriters Association of WA in 1983.
Lewis joins fellow harness racing legends Frank Kersley, Fred R Kersley and Jim Schrader among the 114 champions who have been accorded this honour since the first inductions in 1985.
Lewis has now driven more than 4200 winners in a career spanning almost 40 years and last season was the 23rd time that Lewis has passed the 100 wins in a season milestone and the 18th successive season that he has achieved the feat.
He has headed the WA Drivers Premiership 15 times and no other Australian driver has won a State Premiership on more than 13 occasions.
He has won a total of 45 Group One races including two Inter Dominions with Carclew and Village Kid, five WA Pacing Cups, five WA Derbies and five Fremantle Cups.
He was Australia’s leading driver in 1995 and is the only Western Australian driver to have driven a Group One winner in each of the five mainland States amazingly has finished in the Top Five on the Perth Drivers Premiership for each of the past 28 seasons.
The Gold

2011 Melbourne Cup Race turnover for WA TAB was $13,244,630 (off course tote betting only).

The win by Dunaden was the first Melbourne Cup win for both Jockey Christophe Lemaire and Trainer Mikel Delzangles bringing the horse’s overall stakes to $ 4,308,633. 

The 2011 Race time of 3:20.84 was almost 5 seconds slower than the race record of 3:16.30 set in 1990. The official Winning Margin was nose (1 ¼ lengths between 2nd and 3rd).

The lucky wins in WA this year included $11, 388 on a $5 Mystery Trifecta and $22, 776 on a $5 Trifecta. Both bets were placed at the local TAB agencies. One confident punter invested $4 000 win/place on the 2011 Melbourne Cup Winner.

Last came Modun ridden by Kerrin McEvoy.

David Shortte
RWWA Media Manager
Please contact Georgia Ball at PPR
T: 9388 0944 M: 0404 815 366
E: georgia.ball@ppr.com.au

Kyra Yuill has capped off an outstanding 12-months of riding by claiming three of the major trophies at the 2010/11 Apprentice Jockey Awards presentation held at the South of Perth Yacht Club in Applecross last night.
The promising young jockey won the Best All Round Apprentice, Leading Metropolitan and Leading Regional Rider titles.
Yuill ended the season on 120 winners, 56 at provincial and 64 at city level, which also earned her second place behind William Pike in the Leading Metropolitan Jockeys Premiership.
Her rides earned $2.8 million in stakemoney and included features races: the Pinjarra Classic, Cyril Flower Stakes and Northam Cup.
Former United Kingdom apprentice jockey Ryan Hill was rewarded for his hard work and dedication by being named Most Promising Junior Rider.
Hill has made an immediate impact since arriving in Western Australia and showcased his potential with an all-the-way victory in the Carbine Club of WA Apprentices’ Cup earlier in September.
Yannick Valenti is the Leading Country Rider after accumulating 13 winners including the West Kimberley Derby Sprint on Gifofthegav.
Renee Forrest is the Trainee Apprentice of the Year.  The award is based on a trainee who shows dedication and aptitude around the stables, in studies and in track work and trials.
Forrest received her permit to ride earlier in March and rode her first metropolitan winner aboard Akhedasset on 18 June.
Joseph Azzopardi, who left school three months ago to become a full time apprentice jockey, defeated Forrest to take out the recently completed Rising Star Series.
And Dan Morton, who has been nurturing the careers of Campbell McCallum, Felicity Ives and trainee Mellissa Milner, was given the honour as Boss of the Year.

Promising Lark Hill-based apprentice jockey Joseph Azzopardi is the Touchstone Farm Rising Stars champion for 2011.
The 16-year-old rider ended the series on 66 points and six clear of his nearest rival Renee Forrest with Katariina Aho two points behind in third position.
Azzopardi, indentured to Rebecca Nairn, clinched the title after completing a weekend riding double at Toodyay (October 8) and Geraldton’s opening meeting of the season (October 9).
Azzopardi is in his first year of riding and left high school to commence a full time career as an apprentice jockey just three months ago.
He landed his first metropolitan win in stunning style when he piloted home Smitheringale, a $155.70 chance on the Tab, to victory at Belmont Park on August 24.

2012 V75 INTER DOMINION WEBSITE LAUNCHED
The official website for the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion will formally go ‘live’ today with the domain name www.interdominion2012.com.au.
Everything you need to know about the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion Championship at Gloucester Park in Perth will be featured on the site including entry and restaurant prices, official function details and tourism information.
“This is the first step of an extensive marketing plan” said Gloucester Park CEO Mr Robert Bovell.
“We are six months out from the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion series and this is just the start of a far-reaching advertising campaign to entice as many people to Gloucester Park for the series.”
“I suggest that everyone book early to avoid disappointment” added Mr Bovell.
The Western Australian Government has thrown its support behind the 2012 Inter Dominion with Eventscorp, the WA government agency, a platinum sponsor of the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion.
“Gloucester Park has also been working closely with Eventscorp to show case Western Australia to the many visitors that the 2012 V75 Inter Dominion will attract to the state” said Mr Bovell.
The Deputy Premier, Dr Kim Hames MLA, in a welcome letter on www.interdominion2012.com.au, invites all harness racing fans to what will more than likely be the last traditional Inter Dominion and to experience all that Western Australia has to offer whilst they are visiting the west.
“If you are planning a trip to Western Australia for this highly anticipated event, I encourage you to take the time to enjoy some of the extraordinary experiences the State has to offer” explains Dr Hames.
“From Australia’s whitest beach at Lucky Bay on the south coast to the amazing Bungle Bungle Range in the far north and everything in between. Western Australia caters for all tastes and we look forward to welcoming you for the V75 Inter Dominion Championships in 2012.”
In addition to the information about the upcoming series, Racing and Wagering WA’s Assistant Racing Manager, Alan Parker has written an in-depth history of the Inter Dominion at Gloucester Park, which will return to Perth in 2012 for a record 13th time next year, after hosting the inaugural championship in 1936.
The V75 Inter Dominion is Australasia’s biggest and richest race with the 2012 Grand Final, to be run on 2nd March worth $1 million for pacers that qualify in heats on February 17, 20 and 24

New biosecurity guide for Western Australia’s horse industry

Horse owners, trainers and service providers were reminded of the importance of effective biosecurity to minimise the spread of infectious diseases at the launch of a horse biosecurity package as part of an industry breakfast at Ascot today.

Department of Agriculture and Food Director General Rob Delane presented Horse Alert WA to the State’s horse industry organisations, which have worked with the department to produce best practice biosecurity guidelines for Western Australia.

“The biosecurity guidelines in this manual will help industry to minimise the spread of an infectious disease or an emergency disease and thereby reduce its damaging impacts, or even prevent the introduction of a disease,” Mr Delane said.

“The current outbreaks of Hendra virus in Queensland and NSW have reminded all horse industry members of the impacts of emergency horse diseases and of the importance in implementing effective biosecurity measures.

“These guidelines will assist industry to adopt best practice principles to improve the overall standard of horse health and infection control on individual properties and within stables.

“I congratulate Racing and Wagering Western Australia, Equestrian Western Australia and the WA Horse Council for their active development of these guidelines.”

The development of these guidelines will also assist industry to meet their obligations under the Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) signed in March this year.

Copies of the package have been mailed to WA horse organisation members. Additional copies are available from the department and WA horse organisations or electronically at www.agric.wa.gov.au