By MICHAEL DUMESNY
When owners Charlie and Lisa Pollicina purchased five-year-old gelding Unfazed out of New Zealand back in 2022, they never in their wildest dreams thought that they had acquired a future Inter Dominion contender.
Fast forward to 2024, and this Friday the 11-time Menangle winner is ready to take his place in the first round of the TAB Inter Dominion series at Newcastle.
“This is just one big dream for our family,” said Charlie.
“We could very well be the most excited household in Sydney this week, knowing that we have an Inter Dominion runner.
“Lisa and I are aware that Unfazed may not be up there with the upper echelon of pacers in the series, but he is a good stayer who is fit so the format of contesting three heats, and a final will certainly suit him down to the ground.
“One thing is for certain, we will not miss one minute of it, it is going to be a great thrill for us.”
When he first landed in Australia, Unfazed was trained by Charlie himself out of his Cawdor property in south-western Sydney, but after work commitments and spending time handling his young horses became a challenge, the horse was transferred into the care of his good friend Paul Fitzpatrick who has taken him to the next step to race through to open class.
“It is often the case for hobby trainers who work full time that you simply run out of hours in the day to do what you need to when preparing horses to race,” Charlie said.
“So, it was a no brainer for Lisa and me to send our bloke to Paul and Gavin.
“They are up there with the best in the business and have been doing a great job with him.”
To view the first round of heats for the TAB ID24 series CLICK HERE.
