Hey Kev, Maori's Idol did not beat just any pacers, he raced at Cup class level, just watch him against horses like Paleface Adios, Rip Van Winkle, Koala King & Roma Hanover in the video attached! I love to reminisce, but this is some sort of trotter....I hope another comes along soon! The story below will make the hair stand on end!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcKRd...layer_embedded
His greatest performance was in heat of the Sir Clive Uhr Championship in 1978!...Now known as the Queensland Pacing Championships!
I attach extracts of a story, which I don't know who wrote it, but I apologise for;
There was then some talk about him contesting the Miracle Mile,
> which was very exciting, but that, eventually, came to nothing. What he,
> Rick Healy, really wanted to do was take on the best pacers in the
> upcoming Grand Circuit event, the Sir Clive Uhr Championship at Albion
> Park. As the rules stood, however, he was ineligible, as the rules stated
> "for PACERS assessed at 2.18 or better". No problem! The Albion Park
> committee, in record time, altered the conditions to read "for HORSES
> assessed at 2.18 or better"! HE WAS IN!
>
> Over the years many, if not ALL, the top trotters, had, at various times,
> raced against pacers. Most of them, the very good ones, could beat the
> average pacer but NONE had ever taken on Grand Circuit pacers in a Grand
> Circuit event! In 1956 the great Victorian trotter, Carlotta's Pride beat
> Maestro's Melody by 36 yards in a pacer's race. Maestro's Melody later
> finished 3rd in the 1960 ID Final won by Caduceus. In 1965 the absolutely
> outstanding S.A. trotter, Gramel, took on Minuteman in a pacer's FFA and
> had him "flat as a strap" to beat her by just 3 metres. Minuteman was one
> of THE outstanding pacers of the 1960's and won an Inter Dominion Final as
> well as 2 A.G. Hunter Cups! However NONE of the best trotters had ever
> taken on a task like Maori's Idol was about to undertake. This would be,
> to my way of thinking, the ULTIMATE test of his greatness. The heats and
> Final series attracted a top class lot that included Paleface Adios, Sammy
> Karamea, Sporting Son, Roma Hanover, Koala King and the pre post
> favourite, Rip Van Winkle.
>
> The first heats were on 3-6-78 and Maori's Idol started at 4-1 on the
> first night, the longest price he had been in his entire career, due to
> the fact that Australia's favourite pacer and Albion Park idol, Paleface
> Adios was expected to lead all the way. Paleface jumped straight to the
> front and set a solid pace with Maori's Idol sitting behind him. Down the
> back the last time he made his run and astonished the huge crowd by
> sprinting straight past "Jacko" and racing to the front. He was headed
> slightly by Right Action on the home turn but Healy just gave him more
> rein and he came away to win well from Right Action and Sporting Son. He
> was immediately installed as the new favourite for the Final.
>
>All great harness horses have at least one, and sometimes two or three,
> really great runs that define their greatness. With Mount Eden it was
> DEFINITELY his Miracle Mile win, with Hondo Grattan, his first Inter
> Dominion victory. And so, unbeknown to anybody before the race, Maori's
> Idol was about to produce HIS personal best, HIS unforgettable run, His
> performance that would, for the rest of his career, be held up as proof of
> his greatness! The second set of heats.
>
> His heat attracted a good field but his main danger was a mare called Roma
> Hanover. Not just "any old mare", she was that fastest race mare of all
> time in the Southern Hemisphere courtesy of her win in the inaugural
> Ladyship Mile at HP a little over two weeks earlier. In that race she
> broke the HP track record rating 1-57 4/5 and went faster than ANY horse,
> ANY Miracle Mile winner, had EVER gone at HP. She was a high speed mare
> with a withering final sprint and was the winner of 37 races, 17 of them
> at HP. She had Time Trialled at Albion Park a year earlier in 1-57 1/5
> which remained her personal best. She was WITHOUT DOUBT the horse to beat
> and an awesome hurdle to overcome!
>
> Maori's Idol galloped for a short distance at the start but soon got down
> to a trot and raced up to sit outside the leader for a short distance
> before going to the lead. He was challenged mid race by Tarport John but
> retained the lead, however he DID have to use up some "juice"! Roma
> Hanover, driven this night by John Binskin instead of her usual driver,
> Clarrie Sweeney who was on crutches, was beautifully placed in 5th spot
> just waiting for the right moment to make her run. Down the back the last
> time Maori's Idol raced 3 lengths in front and started to "spreadeagle"
> the field, but Roma Hanover "hadn't spent a penny" and was angling for a
> run. Binskin extricated her from the pack about 150 metres from the home
> turn and began his sprint. She was at least 10 lengths off the leader who
> was starting to really stretch out, but when she saw daylight she
> sprinted, BOY did she sprint! She made up those 10 lengths in the space of
> 100 metres and coming to the home turn was just a half a length behind the
> leader. So fast was she coming that I, and probably everybody else on
> course, thought that she would give Maori's Idol "wind burn" as she
> sprinted past him, but then an amazing thing happened. Brian "clicked up"
> the "Big Fella" and he went up a gear, or two, and left her absolutely
> standing! She was only half a length from him on the home turn, in the
> middle of her sprint, one of the fastest sprints in the country, and at
> the peak of her form, but Maori's Idol, without ever being shown the whip,
> just left her for dead. At the line he was 10 metres in front and
> extending with Sammy Karamea ( no slouch himself!) 15 metres further away
> in 3rd place. It was the greatest performance by a harness horse I have
> ever seen in 48 years of "going to the trots".
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