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Posted: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 06:56:02 GMT

Having knocked on the door and been brave so often Tiger Tara bashed it down with a barnstorming victory in the 2018 TAB Pacing Inter Dominion Championship.

A take-no-prisoners Todd McCarthy drive shot Kevin Pizzuto’s pacer to the lead in the early stages and with a 26.2-second third quarter and a track record smashing 1:53.9 mile rate he broke their hearts to salute in style.

After an enormous campaign that stretches back to October’s Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup win and a brave second in the New Zealand Trotting Cup, McCarthy and Tiger Tara got the one they wanted: the $500,000 Group 1.

“I think it’s going to take a while to sink in but at the moment it’s unbelievable,” McCarthy said.

“They are sensational these nights. The crowd is amazing, just an unbelievable atmosphere. To be able to win these sorts of races is something you dream about as a kid, to be able to come here and do it tonight is pretty special.”

After enormous consternation surrounded race tactics during the week, the game plan was thrown out when Mach Doro crossed to the lead in the early stages before handing up to Tiger Tara.

Victorian hope San Carlo emerged from the pegs and would punch the breeze for much of the running, but the favoured All Stars pair Spankem and Cruz Bromac wouldn’t emerge to make their challenge until the final lap.

With a blistering third quarter of the final mile Tiger Tara found separation and that was all she wrote, saluting by 14.4m from a fantastic Our Uncle Sam with Spankem and Cruz Bromac filling out the first four.

But the night belonged to one.

“He felt really good,” McCarthy said. “He got a bit of a breather nice and early there and I knew it was going to be on in the last three quarters. He felt good down the back straight and I thought it was time to go and if we were good enough we’d be good enough. It worked out terrific, he’s such a gutsy horse and I’m so lucky to drive him.”

Meanwhile, a blistering beginning and brave finish saw Tornado Valley capture the TAB Inter Dominion Trotting Championship in the hands of reinswoman Kate Gath, who became the first female to salute in the great race.

Long Forrest trainer Andy Gath and Kate, his wife, again proved a formidable force in Australasian racing with a thrilling victory by a neck from surprise packet Sky Petite, saluting in front of packed stands at Tabcorp Park Melton.

“To win the Inter Dominion tonight blows my mind. It’s the race everyone wants to win and I’ve won one,” Kate said.

“I can’t believe how lucky I am in my career to win the races I’ve won. It’s astonishing.”

Andy said the pair had “been fortunate to have a lot of good horses win a lot of big races but to win an Inter Dominion is the ultimate”.

“We just love this horse, he just knows how to win and we are very fortunate to have him in our stable.”

Kate flew the gates from her widest front row draw and found the front after 300m, pocketing the second favourite and well-fancied Kiwi Speeding Spur.

It would be the critical move, with Tornado Valley in control out in front as they notched a moderate lead time into a 30.2 first quarter.

The challenges threatened in the running line, first Save Our Pennys, then Tough Monarch, but Tornado Valley saw them all off.

At the turn it was Sky Petite who emerged from three-wide and loomed next to Tornado Valley, fighting on brilliantly before losing by only a neck in the hands of talented young reinsman Ryan Duffy for trainer Michael Stanley.

But it was to be Tornado Valley and Kate Gath’s night.

“Leading early was that little bit of luck we needed to be hard to beat and once we led I was happy, but I burned really hard to lead,” Kate said.

“I came out pretty aggressively to get him across. Everything fell into place and I’m pretty lucky.”

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