MIRACLE MILE

Since the inaugural Miracle Mile more than three decades ago, no single harness race in Australia, or New Zealand, has attracted as much media attention as the Miracle Mile.

The Inter Dominion Pacing Championship is recognised in Australia and New Zealand as the premier harness racing event each year, but the Miracle Mile seems to arouse more interest, and certainly more controversy, every season.

SMOKEN!

There is already an Inter Dominion King and there’s also a Queen so is Lance Justice the new Miracle Mile King?

His win with Smoken Up in the 2011 SEW Eurodrive Miracle Mile at Tabcorp Park Menangle made him one of the most successful horsemen in the history of the pinnacle sprint so the answer is yes!

Justice has trained four Miracle Mile winners and has driven three of them.

The only other reinsmen that have achieved this feat are Vic Frost and Tony Herlihy.

And the only trainer to better this is Barry Purdon, who has notched up five Miracle Mile winners.

“Well it looks like I’ll have to come back and win it again next year,” Justice said.

Justice’s first Miracle Mile winner was Sokyola at Harold Park in 2003 - which was the first Miracle Mile to contain eight runners.

They won it again the following year, however, with Justice suspended Jodi Quinlan was lucky enough to take the drive, making her just the second reinswoman [behind Kellie Kersley] to win a Miracle Mile.

There were a few years in between but in 2010 Justice made it back into the Miracle Mile limelight with Smoken Up at Tabcorp Park Menangle.

The pair sat outside Blacks A Fake clocking 1:50.3 setting a new Australasian record and causing something of an upset at odds of $6.40 in the process.

This year it was different.

Smoken Up was the favourite to win the $500,000 Grand Circuit event throughout the Carnival, especially when he drew barrier one.

And he wasn’t handed the race too easily either.

Working out of barrier one, Smoken Up ($2) and Justice were crossed by West Australian star Im Themightyquinn and checked in the process.

Justice acted quickly, angling away from the pegs to take the lead again as the first quarter was posted in 26.7 seconds.

Getting away with a 29.9 second quarter, it didn’t take long for Smoken Up to be pressured again as Franco Jamar worked his way to the ‘death seat’.

Franco Jamar headed Smoken Up as the third quarter was 27.6 but Smoken Up fought back and recorded a final split of 27.6 seconds to win by more than a metre.

Franco Jamar tailed off but veteran pacer Karloo Mick made up ground along the inside to finish second while Im Themightyquinn was close behind in third.

The mile rate was 1:51.8.

“He’s just a super horse,” Justice said.

“We’ll come back and lower the 1:48.5 another night.

“I didn’t expect Franco Jamar to head us but my bloke, Trigger just kept fighting back.

“He just loves this track [Menangle].

“And who said Karloo Mick wasn’t supposed to be in the Miracle Mile?

“I thought hang on, you can’t win.

“He just went terrific.”

This win has extended Smoken Up’s earnings to $2,927,761, making him the third-richest pacer to come out of Australasia.

Heading the list is Blacks A Fake with $4,535,438 while Monkey King is in second spot with earnings of $3,300,155.

With Karloo Mick’s runner-up performance pushed his earnings to $1,436,605, making him the richest pacer in the Southern Hemisphere that is yet to win a Group One.

Justice also paid tribute to the Tabcorp Park Menangle organisation in particular the track crew led by Owen Mulligan and James Chang.

As many called for a postponement of the meeting this was never going to be the case due to the dedication and skill of the track curators.