Blacks A Fake: the first horse to win four Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Finals
A champion becomes a legend.
That was the official line used by racecaller Greg Miles when Makybe Diva raced into the record books by becoming the first galloper to win three straight Melbourne Cups in '2003/04 and 05'.
Another famous line was from the late Bill Collins when he said Bonecrusher had raced “into equine immortality” after he beat Our Waverley Star in the 1986 Cox Plate.
Today, Blacks A Fake created more racing history by winning his fourth Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final at Menangle in Sydney.
No horse in harness racing history has ever won four Inter Dominion titles.
Heading into the series, the champion Queensland pacer equalled the mighty New Zealand star of the 1950's Caduceus as the only horse to contest five Inter Dominion Championships.
Blacks A Fake's record haul of Inter Dominion trophies could easily be perfect.
Last year, in front of his adoring home crowd he was brave when a fighting second to former North American star Mr Feelgood after repelling the 'meltdown' performance of Auckland Reactor.
Fast forward almost twelve months and it was Blacks A Fake and his trainer/driver Natalie Rasmussen who created their own piece of Australasian sporting history with an emphatic victory over Monkey King and Smoken Up.
Blacks A Fake has now claimed titles in Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne and now Sydney.
Today's performance is quite possibly his best!
West Australian owned pacer Washakie led from the inside gate with Smoken Up quickly racing up on his outside with Bondy grabbing the one out/one back position whilst Blacks A Fake and race favourite Monkey King sat trailing in the moving line.
The lead time for the 2300m event was posted in 47.9 seconds.
The pressure was relentless with Smoken Up eye balling Washakie through opening quarters in 30 and 28.5 seconds.
Entering the backstraight, Blacks A Fake commenced a solo three wide run with Monkey King immediately catching the cover of the Queensland star who surged toward the leaders.
The third quarter was covered in 28.3 seconds and it was line of three as they prepared to straighten with Washakie, Smoken Up and Blacks A Fake sharing the lead with Monkey King beginning to launch his sprint four wide.
As they turned for home, Smoken Up raced by Washakie very quickly but he was then automatically claimed by Blacks A Fake.
Over the final furlong, it was battle between Blacks A Fake and Monkey King but it was the Queenslander who prevailed.
The final quarter was clocked in 27.9 seconds.
The overall time was posted in 2.42.6 with a mile rate of 1.53.8 – a world record for the distance of 2300m.
Amazingly, the winning mile rate eclipses his personal best mark of 1.54.1 when he was successful in a heat of the 2009 Inter Dominion series over the 1609m distance.
“What more do you say about the old boy” a gleaming Rasmussen stated.
“He's just a freak and I'm so proud of him” Rasmussen added.
For Blacks A Fake, he takes his record to 61 victories with 15 minor placings from 82 lifetime starts whilst his stake earnings shoot to a whopping $4,179,693.
On the prizemoney front, Blacks A Fake is clearly the richest pacer of all time in Australasia with his nearest rival being, ironically, Monkey King who boasts earnings of $2,479,536 after his second prize cheque today.
Today's victory clearly confirming his status as the greatest pacer of the modern era but many astute and hardened judges rate him the greatest of all time.
One thing that is agreed upon is that he is now a living legend!
