TRIPLE WINNER OF INTER DOMINION PACING CHAMPIONSHIPS
(P.2, 1:58.7; 3, 1:58; 1:54.1)

Blacks A Fake earned his entry to Hall of Fame as winner of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Inter Dominion Championship Grand Finals and at the time of writing his career is far from over. The gelding may yet better the record of Our Sir Vancelot NZ, winner of three Grand Finals.

Winning $3,084,413 by end 2008, Blacks A Fake became the leading Australasian standardbred pacer of all time. In just 68 career starts, the gelding has won 49 races and been placed in a further 14 starts – a remarkable effort not equalled by any other Australian pacer. His achievements include nine Group 1 races staged on five different tracks across Australia.

His sire Fake Left USA P.2, 1:54; 3, 1:51.4 winner of $USD314,417 is the only Australian based stallion to sire two millionaire dollar pacers, the other being Be Good Johnny ($1,498,167). By end 2008, Fake Left’s progeny included 903 individual winning performers from 1055 starters since his arrival in Australia in 1993, as well as the gelding Fake Denario NZ P.1:49.4 and the mare Pleasing Package P.1:50.4.

His Australasian foal crop to end 2008 totals 1527. His produce to date have won over $45 million and on current indications his stock may still be racing for the next decade and may achieve $60 million in prizemoney. Fake Left is already the Sire of 66 in 1:55.0.

Although he died in 2001 there was enough stored semen to carry on for some years albeit with severely reduced foaling crops. Fake Left USA sired his greatest number of foals (328) in 1999 and stood most of his life at Egmont Stud on the famous Darling Downs in southern Queensland.

Fake Left USA was a 1989 son of the super sire Cam Fella, sire of twenty in the 1:50 list, and as a two year old the colt won five and placed in four races. It was as a three year old that in the words of his owners “he’s finally developed into the kind of horse we expected him to be” after winning six races in the Midwest just prior to competing in the 1992 Little Brown Jug.

The 1992 Little Brown Jug is still considered to be one of the greatest contests for that race of all time matched only by Life Sign’s 1993 win. Fake Left beat out another great colt in Western Hanover who also has since proven a leading sire in North America.

Fake Left USA was from Madam Madusa (F1977) P.1:55.2 $USD 164,845 dam of sixteen foals of whom fourteen had time records including ten in two minutes-four of those in 1:55. Madam Madusa was by Albatross and traces maternally to another Flora Temple (there are over twenty mares duplicating the name of the famous race mare), however, this one was foaled in Kentucky by Rattler from a Cannon’s Whip mare. Transferred north to Massachusetts Flora Temple won a number of races around the Boston area her grand daughter (Blondella) producing Uhleen (F1907) by Bingen a full sister to the champion trotter Uhlan (F1904) Tr.1:58.

Uhlan was the wonder trotter of his time and some think of all time certainly some of his performances deserve that ranking. Harnessed to a running mate in a four wheeled waggon Uhlan trotted in 1:54.5 in 1913 and in an exhibition ran a quarter in 27 seconds flat. Uhlan also ran another exhibition furlong in 13 seconds at Curles Neck, Va. All three exhibitions were timed without dispute and were far beyond the times of those days being put up shortly after his return from winning performances in Russia.

The dam of Blacks A Fake is Colada Hanover (F1990) P.3, 2:01.9 and winner of $10,159 by Vanston Hanover USA P.2,2:00.6; 3,1:55; 1:53.4 winner of $239,552. Standing also at Egmont Stud, Queensland, prior to the arrival of Fake Left USA, Vanston Hanover USA was by Albatross and tracing maternally to Netty Clay he sired 398 individual winners from 620 starters his fastest being Masterton P.1:50.4. As a broodmare sire, with many of his mares located nearby on the Darling Downs, seventeen of his top twenty race performers are by Fake Left USA, the fastest being All Eyes On Me P.1:51.

Colada Hanover had eight winning progeny 1996-2008 from twelve foals, the fastest other than Blacks A Fake being Lord of the North P.1:53.2.

The grand dam of Blacks A Fake is Pina Colada NZ (F1979) P.2, 2:08.3ss; 3,2:04.2; 2:03.9 by H T Luca USA (F1968) P,2, 2:03; 3,1:58.6 winner of $USD155,423. H T Luca USA was by Henry T Adios USA and traces maternally to Mambrino Beauty. Pina Colada NZ was the dam of fourteen foals from 1985 to 1998 including seven individual winners the fastest being Left by Colada (F1998) P.1:57.5.

The balance of the total of ten generations of the maternal family traces back to the foundation mare Red Diamond (or First Water family) having a heavy strike rate of winners and include Inter Dominion Championship, Derby and Cups winners in New Zealand as well as in Australia. Of the ten maternal mares in descent to Red Diamond’s Dam seven are winners and all told have directly produced sixty nine individual winners from one hundred and two foals without taking into account any of the off shoots of these ten mares. Red Diamond (F1907) P.2:32 was by the pacer Prince Imperial and her family predominately follows the pacing gait.

Blacks A Fake is a brown gelding and was foaled in 2000 the breeder being RH Pointer (Nominees PL) of Queensland. Having four starts in the last month of his two year old season for three wins and a placing, his best performance that season was 1:58.7 at the Gold Coast track in Queensland followed by two wins at the Metropolitan track Albion Park in Brisbane.

That season also marked the beginning of his partnership with driver Natalie (NC) Rasmussen, who has continued to drive the gelding in all his sixty eight starts to end 2008/09.

As a three year old Blacks A Fake had ten starts for seven wins including the Qbred Triad Series Final and the Qbred Breeders Classic. His wins were noted by onlookers as gutsy performances, most with margins of a neck or less, an attribute of toughness he carried on to his later years of racing. His best performance as a three year old was in a 2138 metre race at Albion Park rating 1:58.

After his Triad Series win on 15/5/2004 Blacks A Fake was put aside for seventeen months with a curbed hock injury, and he did not race again until 11/10/2005, missing his entire four year old season.

Resuming at Albion Park as a five year old Blacks A Fake put together nine successive wins mainly at Albion Park but also at Gold Coast and Redcliffe to the end of 2005. Regular driver Natalie Rasmussen was doubly pleased, now having added training responsibilities to her repertoire.

The connections decided to race in Victoria as a lead up to the 2006 Tasmanian Inter Dominion Championship at Hobart. Blacks A Fake at first found the competition a little strong running second at Moonee Valley and also at Yarra Valley, followed by a twelfth in the Moonee Valley Cup. All three races were from standing starts and although the gelding had won once from starting mode it seemed he had become unsettled with it.

Travelling to Hobart, Blacks A Fake won his first night heat over a mile in 1:55.5 but then only ran tenth when the next series of heats were held at Launceston. Back in Hobart Blacks A Fake won the third night heat over 2579 metres in a rating of 1:57.6 to become the favoured horse to win the Grand Final.

The $1.5 Million Grand Final of the 2006 Inter Dominion Pacing Championship in Hobart on 2/4/2006 had caused a controversy because of its sponsorship by Betfair but the politics off course had no bearing on the race itself as competition was fierce for the richest race ever conducted in harness racing in Australia.

Added to the overall excitement of this series was the fact that Hobart had a new harness racing track of 1000 metres circumference at Elwick Racecourse after racing for many years at the Hobart Showgrounds track which had been only 750 metres in circumference.

The Grand Final raced over 2579 metres turned out to be a tough and speedy event. The last mile (1609 metres) was run in 1:57.9, and the last half in 56.7 with Blacks A Fake holding on with a last quarter in 27.9 to beat Karloo Mick and Slipnslide for the $900,000 first prizemoney. His driver Natalie Rasmussen became the first female driver to win the Inter Dominion Grand Final.

Put aside for some months after returning to Brisbane Blacks A Fake won the $30,000 Campbells Pace at Albion Park on 15/7/2006 over 2138 metres in a rate of 1:55.1 his fastest lifetime performance so far. In his next start the gelding finished third in the Sunshine Sprint to Cobbity Classic (1:54.2) and then rounded out his five year old season winning the $75,000 Medallist Pace over 2680 metres in a rating of 1:58.1. His results were recognised with an Achiever of the Year Award (Queensland).

With prizemoney of $1,109,963 for the season, the connections of the gelding, still only five years of age, anticipated he had many more wins in store, but looking forward to the defence of his Inter Dominion Championship title in Adelaide they had some doubts about the possibility of extreme hot weather conditions in early January, 2007.

Resuming on 17/10/2006 Blacks A Fake led home at Albion Park rating 1:55.9 over 1660 metres and after two further wins at Albion Park he was selected in the 2006 $500,000 Miracle Mile field at Harold Park. There he was a close second to another Queenslander by Fake Left USA in Be Good Johnny who won in 1:54.3. Still in Sydney a week later Blacks A Fake won the Group One Treuer Memorial of $110,000 over 2540 metres.

Travelling again to Melbourne Blacks A Fake’s connections had yet to confirm that the gelding would defend his title and start in the Inter Dominion Championship, with the first heat in Melbourne and the remainder of the events in Adelaide.

In the meantime Blacks A Fake scored in the $325,000 Victoria Cup at Moonee Valley in 1:58.5 over 2575 metres.

In the first heat of the Inter Dominion Championship at Moonee Valley two weeks later Blacks A Fake could only manage fifth placing over the same distance as the Victoria Cup but in a much slower rating of 2:02.1. A few days later in Adelaide on 3/1/2007 Blacks A Fake ran second to Be Good Johnny (1:54.7) over 1800 metres and then won the third heat rating 2:00 over 2230 metres.

With the heat not proving as difficult a problem as was anticipated Blacks A Fake all of a sudden became again the horse to beat in the Grand Final albeit a new element of three New Zealand contenders had to be factored in to the equation.

Of $500,000 the 2007 Inter Dominion Championship at Globe Derby Park on 13/1/2007 attracted a huge attendance and the patrons were not disappointed as the competition did not let Blacks A Fake have an easy race at any time. Although the three New Zealand horses came at him in the straight the gelding held off Winforu NZ, Foreal NZ and Tribute NZ with Be Good Johnny in fifth place.

His next engagements were not until mid 2007, when he recorded 4 more wins and a second at Albion Park, with the Winter Cup at 2680m in late July being his major contest along with the Sunshine Sprint over 1660m where he ran a 1:54.7 mile rate, his fastest lifetime performance to date. His Horse of the Year Award (Queensland) confirmed his status as a high performer.

The outbreak of equine influenza (EI) then interrupted his career, when he was one of the first horses in Queensland to contract the disease which led to racing being suspended in several states across Australia. It was some four months before he would race again, resuming at Albion Park with another win (November 24th).

After that, Trainer/Driver Natalie Rasmussen began preparing Blacks A Fake to defend his Inter Dominion title, with the Moonee Valley Cup as the first step. This he won (19th January 2008), followed by a second placing in the Ballarat Cup a week later, beaten home by the emerging performer Safari. An emphatic last stride victory in the Hunter Cup followed (3rd February) with a 3000m world record set off a 30m mark. Blacks A Fake clocked a 1:58.9 mile rate that took 1.7seconds off Sting Lika Bee’s 2007 effort, and made him the first horse in 12 years to win Australia’s richest handicap off such a daunting handicap. This was all the more impressive as the horse, along with other contestants, had been held in a 48-hour lock-down at Geelong prior to the race as part of the newly introduced security measures.

This performance qualified Blacks A Fake straight into the Inter Dominion semi-finals, for which Harness Racing Victoria had adopted a new format with cut-throat qualifying heats and sudden death semi-finals. Qualifying heats were run at Geelong, on 16th February, and semi-finals at Moonee Valley (23rd February). Blacks A Fake took the honours in one semi-final, holding off Divisive, but it was the other semi-final that created much interest when Safari smashed the track 2575m record to win. This attracted heavy backing for Safari whose price continued to shorten in the lead-up to the final.

In the Final on 1st March, Blacks A Fake started in barrier 6, in front of a crowd of 12,369, Victoria’s biggest harness racing crowd in years. He did not show the gate speed many expected, allowing Smoken Up (Lance Justice) to assume the lead unchallenged. However, “Blacky” went forward when Safari (Brian Gath) made a move from the back, and took the lead when Lance Justice surprisingly handed up to Rasmussen at the 1800m mark. He fought off a challenge from Safari near the home bend, and won in an impressive mile rate of 1:56.4, just one-tenth of a second behind the record Safari had set in a semi-final. The heavily backed Divisive flashed home second, with Smoken Up third.

This made Blacks A Fake just the fourth horse to win the Final as a 7 year old since 1985, and Rasmussen was quoted as saying: “he is a champion; I’m so proud of him and I love him”; “I think he’s proved he’s one of the all-time greats”.

After this impressive third Grand Final win, Blacks A Fake was rested before coming back to win the FFA at Albion Park (10th May) in Brisbane’s Winter Carnival. Unfortunately, the gelding was injured soon after and did not race again until much later in the year. However, his strong results led to his being crowned 2007-08 Grand Circuit Champion when the other leading contender for the Championship, Smoken Up, faded badly after a tough run in the Trans Tasman at Albion Park in May 2008.

Further honours came with the national 2008 Horse of the Year award - his second successive title, plus third straight Aged Pacer and Aged Horse/Gelding Pacer awards. He capped these with two State Horse of the Year awards when Victoria and Queensland both formally recognised his achievements on their tracks.

He began 2008/09 on the sidelines, but quickly re-established his presence with four straight wins upon resuming in October 2008. These included a Grand Circuit double in his home state – Queensland Pacing Championship and the Trans-Tasman – both new victories added to his high profile CV. He also gained three bonus points for the Watpac ID09 series, and further demonstrated his staying power by remaining unbeaten over 2680m at Albion Park. Three unexpected defeats followed, including the invitational Miracle Mile and the Victoria Cup, with a back muscle problem and virus then interrupting his lead-up to the 2009 $1million Inter Dominion and a tilt at an unprecedented fourth and consecutive title.

Despite a shortened preparation, “Blacky” staked an early claim with a convincing Preliminary Heat win from a difficult inside second row barrier draw, setting a lifetime best mile rate of 1:54.1 as an eight year old. He went into the final as leading points scorer (30) over Auckland Reactor (29) and Karloo Mick (29), and started in the favourable barrier one position. History was denied, however, when he was beaten narrowly on the line by American import Mr Feelgood, after leading in a fast tempo contest, pressured by an over-racing Auckland Reactor. Rasmussen declared “he tried his heart out, and I was proud of him”.

He finished the season on a high note, with a dominant third win in the Brisbane Winter Cup (from Karloo Mick and Be Good Johnny), and was joint Grand Circuit champion for 2008/09 with Mr Feelgood.

Blacks A Fake has had several long breaks in his racing career – and some would say that suits him; he is now a nine year old with only 68 starts – albeit an amazing 72% success rate with 49 wins. With the on-going support of trainer/driver Natalie Rasmussen, and pony companion Simon, he may well have at least another two seasons of racing when his current lifetime earnings of $3,401,111 are sure to increase.

race footage
	2008 Pacing Final Race Footage courtesy Harness Racing Victoria and Provideo
	2007 Pacing Final Race Footage copyright © John Rothe
	2006 Pacing Final Race footage courtesy EVD Pty Ltd

pedigree
	Pedigree - Blacks A Fake