O Lucky Man!

I was at the 1985 Interdominion final. Went to the heats as well which got good crowds also. But the final was incredible I can recall. It's been a long time and I was only 16 years old. Drinking and betting at 16, no checking ID in those days. The roar when Gammalite pulled out to make his run is probably the loudest I've ever heard at a harness meeting. He was having his last run having won the previous 2 Interdominions. He was everybody's favourite along with Poppy, sadly missing from this series due to injury. Those were the good old days of Harness Racing when people actually went to the track. There was always a good crowd every friday night but the final crowd of over 40,000 will never be broken in this state.

A mate and I were talking about how the 1985 Interdominion crowd at Moonee Valley was so huge- here is a cut and paste from-

http://www.heraldsun...6-1225826549662



THE "FROG'S"
INTER DOMINION
Date: March 9, 1985
Race: Inter Dominion Pacing Final
Still the biggest modern-day crowd Moonee Valley has seen - all the great Cox Plates included. "The official crowd was about 38,000, but they closed the gates and then another 3000 cars arrived and parked on the steeple grass and they weren't counted. The true crowd would have been at least 43,000," Donnelley said. They were treated to a night of champions and high-drama. WA star Preux Chevalier was hot favourite for the pacing final, but had a pre-race health scare with colic. He was cleared to run minutes before the race and still won it, beating subsequent Inter Dominion winner Village Kid. Mighty trotting mare Scotch Notch thrilled the locals when she turned the tables on arch rival Sir Castleton in the trotting final. "They were the days when harness racing had real clout," Habel recalled.



Back then to physically go to the trots was the only way avenue where you could put a bet on for them outside of the phone account at home.
The TAB's closed early, there was no casino in Melbourne (well no legal ones!) poker machines were only north of the Murray River or the Wrest Point casino in Hobart. It was a night out and blokes like Vin Knight, Teddy Demmler and Brian Gath were considered sporting legends.