Interdom champ delivers again

Inter Dominion champion Smolda has won his sixth Group I on Australian soil with a typically tough effort in South Australia on Saturday night.

The Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen-trained pacer was a short priced $1.20 favourite for the A$100,000 Group I South Australian Pacing Cup and got the job done in his first start since winning the Inter Dominion final on December 9.

Smolda, raced by Phil and Glenys Kennard, Markus Kirkwood and Neil Pilcher, has now banked more than A$700,000 since heading across the Tasman for the Inter Dominion series in Perth.

His overall stakes earnings have risen to more than $2.3m.

Smolda and Purdon, who had made the trip across the Tasman after driving Lazarus to victory at Cambridge on Friday night, did well to get past the early carnage at Globe Derby Park when a number of runners were held up by gallopers and two runners who locked wheels.

Not so lucky was former Kiwi Messini, who lost a stack of ground when checked.

Purdon was happy to park Smolda outside race leader Jilliby Jagger for most of the 2600m trip and when the pair got going with 300m to run it was always going to be Smolda who had the class and toughness edge.

Smolda’s eventual winning margin over Jilliby Jagger was just a neck, but there was a further eight and a quarter lengths back to Whenmechief in third.

An eight-year-old son of Courage Under Fire, Smolda’s next target is likely to be the A$120,000 Group I Ballarat Cup on January 21 which he will start as the defending champion.

Messini, trained by former Canterbury trainer Brent Lilley and driven by Anthony Butt, finished back in fourth.

The night was not all bad for ex-pat Kiwis Butt and Lilley.

The duo won the South Australian Derby with the Kiwi-owned Our Jimmie, who beat home former All Stars runner King Solomon by three lengths.