for the Miracle Mile Pace on February 4. In the Miracle Mile at Harold Park where he was previously unbeaten in four starts he won in 1.57.7 after he raced outside Gammalite for the last lap. Later in the month he won the A G Hunter Cup reducing the track record of 2.01.7 by Pure Steel to 1.59.4. No pacer had ever recorded a mile rate of better than two minutes for such a long distance. Travelling to Auckland for the 1983 Inter Dominion Popular Alm won a heat but found the clockwise track difficult and in the final ran off on the final corner and finished second behind Gammalite in the final. Returning to Melbourne he won the Marathon at Moonee Valley before sweeping all three legs of the Tasman Challenge series where his rivals included Gammalite and the New Zealand pacers Delightful Lady and Hands Down. The series win earned him the unofficial Horse of the Hemisphere title and his career earnings passed $500,000, the only previous horses to have reached the milestone in Australian harness racing being Gammalite, Koala King, Pure Steel and Paleface Adios. In May he time trialled at Moonee Valley and by running quarters of 27.1, 27.9, 28.6 and 29.6 he ran in mile 1.53.2. It was the fastest mile in Australia or New Zealand and by an Australian or New Zealand bred pacer anywhere in the world. Popular Alm also broke the world record held by Storm Damage for the fastest mile on a five eighths mile (1000m) track. By breaking the previous Australian mile record by 1.7 seconds, he reduced the record by more than any horse since Walla Walla in 1933. For the season he raced 22 times for 18 wins 1 second and 1 third and was named Australian Harness Horse of the Year. 1983/84 season Early in the 1983/4 season Popular Alm won the Craven Filter Sprint (now known as the Queensland Pacing Championship) on the opening night of the new Albion Park track in 1:55.8. He won six consecutive races at Albion Park including setting a new Australian record time for a race mile of 1.54.5. A win in the Australian Pacing Championship was also part of the winning sequence. On 29 October 1983, Popular Alm became the shortest priced favourite in Australian harness racing history when winning at Brisbane’s Albion Park. In Melbourne he won the Winfield