JIMMY Rattray wants to celebrate a decade since his last Inter Dominion win by doing it again.
The Tasmanian-born but NSW-based Rattray shot to stardom when he trained and drove his family’s horse, the great stayer Beautide, to successive Inter Dominion pacing final wins at Menangle in 2014 and ’15.
This time his hopes largely rest with a different gait, brilliant trotter London To A Brick.
Few would argue London To A Brick has the talent, he hasn’t been the easiest horse to train and he can be enigmatic as a result.
Last year’s Inter Dominion proved a nightmare when he had issues, galloped and didn’t make it through.
But Rattray looks to have his stable star primed heading into tonight’s first round of heats.
His lead-up form at Menangle has been fantastic and his trademark speed has been on full display.
Travelling to Brisbane also holds no fears for Rattray.
“He loves Albion Park. All of his runs there have been fantastic,” he said. "He travelled up well and has settled in nicely, so we're raring to go."
London To a Brick has raced four times at Albion Park across two trips and snared two feature wins and two placings. The wins have been at Group 1 level in a 2023 Great Square and 2024 Queensland Trotters’ Cup. He also ran second in last year's Great Square.
Confidence is a big thing for any trotter, especially a sometimes quirky one like London To A Brick.
That's why Rattray is thrilled he’s drawn well and gets a great chance to score an opening round win tonight (Saturday).
London To A Brick has gate three and looks a strong chance of working forward to take the lead. He’s $2.20 favourite in the heat.
By far his biggest danger tonight and for the final is remarkable Kiwi veteran Oscar Bonavena.
Trained by Kiwi Hall of Famer Mark Purdon and his son, Nathan, Oscar Bonavena has banked well over $1 million and still all his trademark brilliance despite being a nine-year-old. He’s a $2.50 chance from a suitable trailing draw (gate nine) tonight.
London To A Brick is $7 fourth favourite for the final behind Victorian star Arcee Phoenix ($3), exciting young Kiwi Bet N Win ($3.50) and Oscar Bonavena ($4).
The next best NSW hope in the trotting series is last year’s Inter Dominion Consolation winner Constantinople, a Luke McCarthy-trained stablemate of defending pacing champion Don Hugo.
Rattray also has two outsiders in the pacing series, the speedy Nyack and veteran Whereyabinboppin.
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
