Spotlight On: Inter Dominion Championships
Can Queensland do it?
The 2026 Inter Dominion Championships (Pacers and Trotters) kick off tomorrow at Albion Park, the second of three straight series at the famed Breakfast Creek oval.
Last Year, Leap To Fame and Arcee Phoenix were crowned champions at the Inter Dominion Championships. Who will it be in 2026?
Can Queensland produce both champions?
Well, according to pundits, the host state has the favourites for both divisions, Leap To Fame (Pacers) and Gus (Trotters).
Yes, you read that correctly.
Queensland has the favourites for both divisions – Pacers and Trotters.
Leap To Fame is chasing his third Inter Dominion title following his victories last year and back in 2023 while Gus is aiming for his maiden title.
The last time the host state produced both winners (Pacers and Trotters) was just a few years ago when Don Hugo and The Locomotive scored at Menangle in Sydney back in 2024.
Don Hugo was trained and driven by Luke McCarthy while Brad Hewitt was the trainer/driver of The Locomotive.
It’s a feat that is quite unique, and more so for Australian runners. In both 2024 and 1978 the winners hailed from the host state.
Markovina was trained and driven by Brian Gath while Cliff Powell was the trainer/driver of Derby Royale.
Other combinations since 1970 that have achieved it includes:
- 2019: Alexandra Park, Auckland – Ultimate Sniper and Winterfell (both trained in New Zealand)
- 2005: Alexandra Park, Auckland – Elsu and Play On (both trained in New Zealand)
- 1991: Alexandra Park, Auckland – Mark Hanover and Fraggle Rock (both trained in New Zealand)
- 1979: Addington, Christchurch – Rondel and No Response (both trained in New Zealand)
- 1978: Moonee Valley, Melbourne – Markovina and Derby Royale
- 1975: Alexandra Park, Auckland – Young Quinn and Castleton’s Pride (both trained in New Zealand)
- 1971: Addington, Christchurch – Stella Frost and Geffin (both trained in New Zealand)
Will the Sunshine State produce both winners?
Given the dominance of Leap To Fame, a generational-type talent who continues to set new standards as a seven-year-old stallion, he’s clearly the horse to beat.
Despite his rising age, the Grant Dixon-prepared megastar appears to be defying Father Time as he soars to new heights during the 2026 season.
In 11 starts so far this year, Leap To Fame has won nine times while being the runner-up in the other two starts.
His haul of feature race victories includes the Miracle Mile (his second), Cambridge Slot Race (back-to-back), Ballarat, Cranbourne and Kilmore Cups plus the International Animal Health Sprint (MM Qualifier). He was beaten in the Hunter Cup (Swayzee) and Shepparton Cup (Kingman).
As he enters his third Inter Dominion series, on his home soil, here’s a sobering statistic for all rivals.
Leap To Fame has never been beaten during an Inter Dominion series!
Queensland has only ever had two Inter Dominion Pacing Grand Final winners: Leap To Fame and Blacks A Fake – the two greatest champions of all time.
The Pacing series commenced back in 1936 when staged at Gloucester Park, Perth, which was won by Logan Derby. Conversely, Queensland is yet to taste victory in a Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final.
Heck, it was only last year that Queensland scored a heat victory when classy mare Golden Sunset prevailed in the opening round for trainer Shawn Grimsey and driver Nathan Dawson.
The Shaun Gillespie-trained Kasyanov was the runner-up behind Sundons Gift in the 2010 Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final at Moonee Valley, Victoria.
The first Trotting series was staged back in 1948 at Alexandra Park, Auckland, when Aerial Scott scored for Jim and Bob Young.
The evolution of Queensland trotting has been obvious for all to see in recent years, owners investing heavily in tried stock or through yearlings spread across the southern hemisphere.
The Sunshine State has been well represented during the 2023 and 2025 series staged at Albion Park. And 2026 will be no different.
Gus, prepared by Chantal Turpin and driven by her husband Pete McMullen, is lining up in his fourth series.
Back in 2023 as a raw and inexperienced young trotter, he qualified for the Grand Final before finishing 10th behind Just Believe. The following year he was withdrawn from the series after galloping in his opening round heat at Newcastle while he qualified for the Grand Final last year when finishing fourth behind Arcee Phoenix.
A lot has changed in the intervening 12 months.
Gus ventured to Addington, Christchurch in November for Cup week. He dominated both Group 1 features, winning the Dominion and Show Day FFA - a feat never achieved previously by an Australian-trained trotter.
Since then, Gus finished a courageous fourth behind superstar Keayang Zahara in the Group 1 Hammerhead Mile at Menangle in 1:51.5 after starting from the outside draw.
He returned to New Zealand back in April, where he won the Group 2 Waikato Trotters Flying Mile before finishing third behind Keayang Zahara and Jilliby Ballerini in the Trot Slot feature the following week (again starting from the outside draw).
Both races were staged at Cambridge in the North Island.
The seven-year-old boasts a record of 22 wins from 52 starts with earnings above $615,000.
Back on his home track, Gus will be a force to be reckoned with.
And as a bonus, Keayang Zahara was not amongst nominations for the Trotting series.
Interestingly, McMullen can join the late John Langdon as a winner of both Inter Dominion Grand Finals (Pacers and Trotters) at the same series.
Langdon, at just 27, became the first and only driver ever to win both the pacing and trotting Grand Finals of the Interdominion series. He achieved this feat at Alexandra Park with Young Quinn and Castleton's Pride in 1975.
McMullen, 34, is the regular driver of The Janitor, a rising star on the Grand Circuit scene and considered to be a major threat against Leap To Fame.
Both Leap To Fame and Gus were installed as clear punters choices once nominations were taken.
So, can Queensland do it?
Can both Grand Final trophies be retained in the Sunshine State?
It won’t be through a lack of trying.
Let’s go and find out!
