Captains Mistress NZ - At the 2026 Inter Dominion presentation
THE win of champion mare Captains Mistress added to the Riverina’s proud Inter Dominion history.
Both her driver Cam Hart (Junee) and trainer Jason Grimson (Young) grew up in the Riverina.
In Hart’s case, he added to the amazing record of Junee in harness racing’s biggest and most iconic event.
It was the 27-year-old’s second driving success in the Inter Dominion, having partnered I Cast No Shadow to win at Melton in 2022. He was also trained by Grimson.
“Junee was a great place to grow up and has so much harness racing history. I’m proud to add to that,” Hart said.
“What with Brian Hancock, my family and Allenbys, there’s such a strong connection to the Inter Dominion, too.”
With time on his side, Hart could rival Junee’s most famous harness racing export, the man they dubbed the Inter Dominion “King”, Brian Hancock.
“I don’t know about that,” Hart said. “If I can retire with half the record of Brian, I’ll be a very happy man.”
The record books show Hancock famously shares the record with former Queenslander Natalie Rasmussen on five training wins in the Inter Dominion pacing final.
To be fair, Rasmussen also co-trained another two – Smolda (2016) and Lazarus (2017) – when she co-trained in NZ with Mark Purdon, but rules of the time meant only one trainer could be assigned in Australia and that was Purdon.
Hancock’s wins came with Thorate (1990), Weona Warrior (1994) and three with the great Our Sir Vancelot (1997, ’98 and ’99).
Rasmussen’s “official” wins were a record four with Blacks A Fake (2006, ’07, ’08 and 2010) and then Ultimate Sniper in partnership with Purdon in 2019.
Hancock also drove five pacing final winners, four of those he trained (Our Sir Vancelot three times and Weona Warrior), along with Koala King in 1980 for trainer Ray Wisbey.
Hart’s great grandfather, the Junee-based George Harpley, trained Welcome Advice to win the 1972 Inter Dominion final.
Harpley’s son, Allan, who is Hart’s great uncle, drove Welcome Advice in the win.
Go back even further, to just the fourth running of the Inter Dominion pacing final in 1939, and the Junee-based Charles McCarthy owned the winner Springfield Globe.
Hart said it was a huge thrill to share the success with another Riverina “boy” in Grimson.
“Two kids from the Riverina, teaming up in races like this is pretty cool,” he said. “What Jase has done is amazing and his planning and work behind the scenes is something people don’t see.
“He’s such a deep-thinker and so professional, he’ll be around in the game for many years to come. He loves it.”
Grimson, just 32, became the youngest trainer to win at least three Inter Dominion pacing finals: Boncel Benjamin (2021), I Cast No Shadow (2022) and Captains Mistress.
He also joined immortals in Hancock and Mark Purdon as the only trainer to win it with three different pacers.
PHOTO: Toby Coutts
