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Gloucester Park holds dominion for pacers
Steve ButlerThe West Australian
Tue, 22 November 2016 2:36PM
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Camera IconLegendary horseman Fred Kersley at Gloucester Park with his family's famous racing colours and San Simion's 1981 Inter Dominion trophy. Credit: Sharon Smith/The West Australian
Under the facade that represents one of WA's most iconic sporting events, champion horseman Fred Kersley embraces a true sense of family.
One of the all-time greats of WA pacing, Kersley became even better known in wider equine circles when he made the economic decision to try his hand at thoroughbreds and tapped into the riches of that code alongside his legendary galloper Northerly.
But returning this week to the venue of many of his great triumphs to mark the 80th anniversary of the first Inter Dominion pacing championship at Gloucester Park, it was clear the harness code still held a special place in his heart.
Above him on boards of tribute were the names of the horses and the reinsmen who first raced in the grand final of a now cherished annual Inter Dominion series. Recorded among them is the third placing of his uncle Frank Kersley, who drove inaugural grand final third place-getter Nancywood.
And as a new series begins back where it all started at Gloucester Park next Friday, Kersley left little doubt about what it meant to WA's harness racing fraternity.
"Short answer is, everything," Kersley said.
"It was 'the' race that everyone aspired to and if you wanted to say it is the Melbourne Cup of harness (racing), you could be right.
"But I actually think it's better than the Melbourne Cup in as much as it embraces all the States.
"People used to travel by boat, by train and by road to get there in a day when harness was well ahead of the thoroughbreds. It was as big as it could get and the history of the Inter Dominion is dominant in my thoughts in what harness racing is all about.
"It goes even further than family ... it was one thing you could hang your hat on and the goal was always to aspire to get a horse good enough to go to the Inter Dominion."
Kersley is a fourth-generation "Fred". But it was his grandfather Fred, better known as "Pop", who began the family's WA harness dynasty when he moved from South Australia in the early 1930s and saw potential in a new racing frontier.
Then, on October 31, 1931 it was Kersley's father Fred who drove the first of nearly 600 WA winners in a career that landed him in the WA Racing Hall of Fame. Still, the Inter Dominion was a prize that surprisingly evaded the Freds, leaving Frank as the family's sole winner with Tennessee Sky in Adelaide in 1954.
Despite the series being a great love for Kersley, it was also a great source of frustration, having twice run second. He was beaten by the great Binshaw behind Coneeda in 1967 and was an unlucky runner-up behind the legendary Pure Steel, who was beaten by Carclew in 1976.
"I justify it by saying there are a lot of good drivers who never won it and there are a lot of ordinary drivers who have won it more than once," he quipped. "On balance I wish I'd won one, but I didn't."
Kersley said he had marvelled at how Australasia's best pacers had continually recorded faster race times as the years had progressed. He also recalled a memorable Inter Dominion moment at one of the 14 series which have been held in Perth, when hero of the day Beau Don appeared to have met with a cruel end to his career in 1953.
"In those days we had a lot of falls because that's the way it was ... it was pretty rough," he said. "On this day there were two or three horses on the track, including the idol of the day, Beau Don. He was being held down and one of the tubes in one of the tyres burst, bang. The rumour immediately went through the crowd that they'd shot Beau Don, it was chaos.
"But he got up and he completed the series."
Beau Don raced until 1957 and was inducted into the WARHOF in 2007. He won three Inter Dominion heats, including two in 1953, but never won a series.
Kersley said the gruelling test of a pacer during an Inter Dominion series was what made winning it so special. Gloucester Park historian Alan Parker agreed.
"You don't get too many Inter Dominion winners who fluke it," Parker said. "You've got to have a very special horse to get through three runs in a week and then butter up in a final against the best there is."
Parker said the Inter Dominion concept was first mooted in the mid-1920s by an Irish draper from the Goldfields known as James Brennan. He said he had the original minutes from the 1935 Sydney meeting where the series was finally instituted on the urging of one-armed WA pacing official John "JP" Stratton.
He also recalled a chaotic race fall in the 1974 Inter Dominion at Gloucester Park after Just Too Good galloped at the start and left star Hondo Grattan to score a Stephen Bradbury-style win and his second successive championship.
Parker was delighted to have the Inter Dominion back where it should be for its 80th birthday. "It's the holy grail and back where it started and where it belongs ... it's come home," he said.
A study done on last year's series at Gloucester Park showed that more than 3000 visitors came from outside Perth and provided nearly $8 million in direct spending. It generated more than 8800 bed nights in the host cities Perth and Bunbury.