The Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final is a race for trotters within the overall Inter Dominion series. The series is an annual harness racing competition for both trotters and pacers that has been contested since 1936 in Australia and New Zealand. The host of the series is selected between the 6 harness racing states of Australia and the North and South Islands of New Zealand.
On occasions some Australian states had been reluctant to host the series with the pacers championship so it was held separately in Victoria. A meeting with leading Australasian harness racing officials led to a decision that the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship would be discontinued after 2012. Several new major trotting races were created to replace the series, most notably the Great Southern Star at Melton in March, which was to be run with a one-day heat and final format. However these Trotting Championship was re-introduced in 2018.
Albion Park was chosen to hold the 2025 Inter Dominion. There were 2 rounds of heats scheduled (down from 3 rounds in prior years):
The Grand Finals and consolation races were scheduled for Saturday 19 July 2025. The Grand final raced over 3157m and the consolation 2680m. All races from a mobile start.
The 2024 Inter Dominion started on 29 November 2024 at Newcastle. There were 3 rounds scheduled:
The Grand Finals were scheduled for Saturday 14 December at Tabcorp Park, Menangle and raced over 2300m.
The 2023 Inter Dominion started on 1 December 2023 at Albion Park, the venue for the whole series which is a 1019m left-handed all weather track. There were 3 rounds scheduled:
The Grand final was raced over 2680m on Saturday 16 December. The Grand final was won by the prior year's victor, Just Believe:
Second was Mufasa Metro (trained and driven by John Justice) and Queen Elida was third (Brent Lilley and Chris Alford) as she had been in 2022.
The 2022 Inter Dominion started on 26 November 2022 at Ballarat with 3 heats each for pacers and trotters, all run over 2200m. The second night, Tuesday 29 November, is at Shepparton and the heats were 1690m. The third night, 3 December, was at Geelong and the races 2570m. On 10 December the finals are held at Melton and each race is run over 2760m.
The points awarded during the heats are: 1st (16 points), 2nd (13), 3rd (11), 4th (9), 5th (8), 6th (7), 7th (6), 8th (5), 9th (4), 10th (3), 11th (2) and 12th (1).
The stake for the trotting heats was $25,000 while the Grand Final was worth $250,000.
New Zealand's sole entrant in the 2022 series Bolt For Brilliance was withdrawn after suffering a fractured pedal bone, pulling up lame following his second place in his final heat.
There was no Inter Dominion in 2020. The 2021 Inter Dominions were held from Saturday 27 November 2021 to 11 December 2021. The first round of heats and the finals were held at Menangle Park Paceway while the second and third rounds of heats were at Bathurst and Newcastle respectively.
Due to COVID-19 a significant number of horses, particularly from New Zealand, were unable to compete.
Horses that were in the final rankings but did not compete included:
The 2019 Inter Dominions were held in Auckland, New Zealand, hosted by the Auckland Trotting Club at the Alexandra Park track from Friday 29 November 2019 to 15 December 2019.
2019 Rowe Cup winner Sundees Son initially led the Inter Dominion Rankings for Trotters but was withdrawn in October 2019. Also withdrawn were Lemond and Kyvalley Blur who were initially ranked 6th and 9th respectively. After the first night trainer, Andy Garth, withdrew Mclovin due to a viral infection causing leg swelling.
Heats 1 and 2 on Friday 29 November were over 2200m with a mobile start and Free-for-all conditions.
Heat 3 and 4 on Tuesday 3 December were raced over 1700m.
Heat 5 and 6 on Friday 6 December were raced over 2700m.
The Grand final (2700m) held on 14 December was won by Winterfell (Mark Purdon) in 3:21.6 (mile rate - 2:00.1) from Majestic Man (Brad Williamson) and Massive Metro (Todd Mitchell).