Inter Dominion to receive massive prize money boost ahead of 2025 series

The time-honoured Inter Dominion will receive a massive cash injection ahead of the 2025 series at Albion Park.

Superstar Queensland pacer Leap To Fame Picture: Dan Costello

Harness racing’s iconic Inter Dominion will get a huge prize money boost and significant overhaul when it returns to Brisbane in July.

Racing Queensland has announced the Pacing Championship division will carry a $1 million final, double what the finalists ran for in Sydney last year.

The Trotting Championship final will soar from $150,000 last year to $500,000, making it by far the richest trotting feature in Australia.

The move from a December to July timeslot as part of the growing Queensland Constellations has been well received, with trainers insisting it will ensure broader participation from around Australia and New Zealand.

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“What a great move,” top NZ trainer Cran Dalgety said. “The Inter Dominion is something we all want to be part of, but December made it hard for a lot of us because of the glut of feature races here (NZ) and in Australia.

“This will now become a destination event. Some of the great Inter Dominions in the modern era have been in Queensland and I’m sure the next few years will add to that.”

Importantly, the Inter Dominion rotating cycle has changed and Brisbane’s Albion Park will host the event for the next three years.

The first of them comes at a mouth-watering time this year with so many stars, especially in the pacing ranks.

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Local champion Leap To Fame, which won the last Brisbane Inter Dominion in 2023, will headline the pacers, along with his mighty sibling Swayzee.

Don Hugo, which won last year’s Sydney Inter Dominion final and the recent Miracle Mile, will be another key player.

Another change largely well-received this year is the reduction of the number of rounds of qualifying heats – two rounds instead of three – to make the series slightly less demanding and cater for the changing breed of harness horses.

Miracle Mile hero Don Hugo at Menangle Picture: Racepix

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The 36 pacers and 24 trotters will tackle the first round of heats on July 5, race again on July 12 and then the finalists will lock horns on July 19.

In a fascinating move, Racing Queensland also revealed the winner of the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun on July 5 – a feature restricted to three and four-year-old pacers – would gain a golden ticket into the $1 million pacing final.

The proviso is the winner must be a four-year-old and, so as to race twice before the final like all qualifiers, they also need to contest the Kevin Thomas 4YO race at Albion Park on July 12.

Interestingly, the past two Inter Dominion winners have come through the Rising Sun as four-year-olds, Leap To Fame won the 2023 Rising Sun and Don Hugo ran second last year.

The most interesting change to the Inter Dominion comes in the points system to qualify for the final, which will now include three possible bonus point options in each heat.

Two bonus points will go to the horse with the fastest individual last 800m, one point for the fastest last 400m and one point for the quickest last mile (1609m).

· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.

Originally published as Inter Dominion to receive massive prize money boost ahead of 2025 series