SKY Channel Carnival of Miracles - Harold Park Paceway

Harold Park Function Centre | Menangle Markets

MIRACLE MILE HISTORY
The Miracle Mile is the most sought after prize by harness racing enthusiasts across the nation, and the event, held annually at Sydney's Harold Park, seems to attract more interest than any other event in Australia.

In January 1967, the New South Wales Trotting Club, in conjunction with W D & H O Wills (Aust.) Limited, announced the promotion of the most exciting race in Australian harness racing history. The new race named the Craven Filter Miracle Mile-was, at that time, the richest sprint race ever staged in trotting in the Southern Hemisphere.

The concept behind the initiation of the Miracle Mile came from then NSW Trotting Club Secretary and former Australian Rugby League player, Len Smith.

Since that inaugural Craven Filter 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.

When the Miracle Mile was run for the first time at Harold Park on Friday, March 3, 1967, the title seemed rather grandiose as the 'magical' two-minute barrier was still to be bettered by a pacer in a race in the Southern Hemisphere. But history was made on that balmy night in 1967, however, when a crowd of 20,287 gave eight-year-old mare Robin Dundee a champion's ovation in her lap of honour after scorching over the Glebe circuit in 1:59 to record an effortless 25-yard victory over Tongue Twister and Angelique.

The Miracle Mile has certainly lived up to its name in the ensuing years with only five winners failing to win in better than two minutes. It is the fastest race in Australasia, and is arguably, the greatest!