Racing WA

Inductee 2010: Village Kid

2 June 2010

Village Kid was foaled in New Zealand on 4th December 1980 and, acting on the recommendation of Perth farrier Dudley Anderson, was bought for a little over $36,000 Australian dollars and commenced racing in Perth as a 4yo.

Later that season, as an M2 class 4yo, Village Kid won the 1985 WA Pacing Cup beating a very short-priced favourite Preux Chevalier.

A month later he finished a luckless second to Preux Chevalier in the Inter Dominion but then won the Inters the next year as a 5yo in Brisbane.

Village Kid owns the greatest winning sequence in Australian harness history after winning 19 successive races between February 1987 and February 1988.

While others may have won more in succession, all of Village Kid's wins came in fast-class races and included four Group One races across three States.

He shares the record of four WA Pacing Cup wins with another legend in Pure Steel and may have won five successive WA Cups had a barrier draw malfunction not caused the 1987 WA Pacing Cup to be re-drawn after Village Kid had originally drawn barrier one.

Village Kid is the only Western Australian pacer to have won two NSW Miracle Miles and his total of 13 Group One races is also a WA record.

Village Kid's 5yo, 6yo, 7yo and 8yo seasons saw him acknowledged as the best pacer in the Southern Hemisphere across each of those seasons.

From the time Village Kid turned 4yo until the end of his 8yo season he had 100 starts for 70 wins and 22 placings.

During this period he was twice voted Australian Harness Horse of the Year and was the first horse to be voted Australian Aged Pacer of the Year on three occasions.

As an 8yo Village Kid became the first and to date the only horse to win all three heats of an Inter Dominion twice when he achieved the feat in the 1989 Perth championship.

Principal Wins

4yo season
WA Pacing Cup Group One 
FHRC Romeo Hanover Pace

5yo SEASON
WA Pacing Cup Group One 
NSW Miracle Mile Group One 
NSW Lord Mayors Cup Group One 
Victorian AG Hunter Cup Group One
QLD Inter Dominion final Group One

6yo SEASON
FHRC Members Flying Mile
Mount Eden Sprint

7yo SEASON
WA Pacing Cup Group One 
WA Australian Pacing Championship Group One
NSW Miracle Mile Group One 
NSW MH Treuer Memorial Group One 
Fremantle Cup Group One

8yo SEASON 
WA Pacing Cup Group One 
Fremantle Cup Group One