The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 50: Dead heat at Dunedin Interdominions (1965)
The 1965 Interdominions at Forbury Park were talked about at the time as Dunedin's biggest drawcard since the South Seas Exhibition of 1926 and, on the front page of the Otago Daily Times of January 15, ran an article predicting the series would prove to be the biggest money-spinner for Dunedin since the goldrush.
The Forbury Park Trotting Club was only awarded the Interdominions after Auckland, whose turn it was to stage the series, turned the opportunity down in 1963. That left the club 16 months to prepare to host Australasia's premier harness racing contest.
The racecourse's existing facilities were deemed insufficient and so a new stand - considered at the time as the most up to date in New Zealand - was constructed at a cost of £106,000 (the average wage at the time was under £50 a week).
The Forbury Park Interdominions marked the first time the series had been held under lights in New Zealand and the first time the races were broadcast live (on radio) since the club had changed to night trotting in 1961.
The series lived up to expectations in many ways, with 15,760 people attending the final night on March 3 ( a Wednesday!) and 52,354 attending the four nights in total.
The £147,901 on-course betting total on final night was a record for Otago and Southland, while the off-course figure of £182,362 was the largest bet on a night trotting meeting to that point.
The ODT of March 4 recorded that over the series the racegoers consumed 45,000 cups of tea, 50,000 pies, 2000 gallons of beer and chips equivalent to 100 sacks of potatoes.
The racing itself had a sensational climax when the pacing final ended in a dead-heat between Jay Ar and classy mare Robin Dundee, but only after Jay Ar was originally decorated as the outright winner and was parading with the victory sash while Robin Dundee was taken to the stabling area.
Robin Dundee's driver, Doody Townley, who had kept insisting the presentation was premature, had told Jay Ar's trainer-driver, George Noble as the horses eased down: "I think I got you, George" to which Noble had replied: "Yes, I think you did."
In the trotting final, champion South Australian mare Gramel, who had won her three heats from the back mark of 36yd, was upset by Southland mare Poupette.
