Originally founded in 1965 by Geoff Broome, Harness Racing Travelworld has been owned and operated by Michael and Belinda Gallenti since 1996. The annual Inter Dominion series has been the flagship of our tour program for 35 years.
Other major harness racing events that complement our regular tour program include the Little Brown Jug USA, New Zealand Cup, World Driving Championships, Miracle Mile and the Hunter Cup.
All of our tours are personally escorted by a team of experienced and dedicated individuals (see below) who take great pride in the fact that over eighty per cent of our passengers are “regulars” and have traveled with us before, many of them on multiple occasions. Some regular tour members have been traveling on our Inter Dominion tours for almost thirty years!
Harness Racing Travelworld is a fully licensed travel agency and a member of the Travel Compensation Fund (TCF), which is secured and regulated by government authorities and conducts audited annual financial reviews of licensed travel agents to ensure that consumers are fully protected.
Our travel agency accreditations and affiliations include -
- Travel Agents License No 30813
- Travel Compensation Fund No 3/1185
- Australian Company No (Kiplee Pty Ltd) 006 003 612
- Member – International Air Transport Association (IATA)
- Member – Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA)
- Member – Charter for Safe Travel
- Member – Jetset Travelworld Group of travel agencies
- Official Travel Agent – Australian Harness Racing Council and Inter Dominion Harness Racing Council
Whether you are booking a harness racing tour, a domestic airfare or the holiday of your dreams, we believe that the recipe for providing customer satisfaction is quite simple. Never compromise on quality, research your products carefully and thoroughly, be honest with your customers and don’t sell them anything that you would not buy yourself.
We hope to see you soon.
Michael & Belinda Gallenti
Michael and Belinda have been involved in the travel industry for most of their working lives and have been operating their travel agency and group tour business for fifteen years.
Whilst Belinda’s main role within the business is managing their Melbourne based travel agency she is eager to put on her tour escort's hat whenever she gets the opportunity.
Michael is responsible for the day to day operation of Harness Racing Travelworld.
“Harness Racing Travelworld has become a major part of our business since we joined Geoff Broome’s Travelworld in 1996. Neither of us has a harness racing background but it didn’t take long to realise how fortunate we were to be dealing with the harness racing community. Many of our customers have become good friends so it enables us to enjoy a social life while we are working.
We are optimistic about the future of our harness racing tours as the strong growth in specialised group travel over recent years continues. Much of the credit for the popularity of our tours is due to our tour escorts, who are on hand to ensure that you enjoy your time with us”
Ross Pyke
Ross Pyke is the veteran of our tour escorts and was on board with Geoff Broome in the days when legendary names such as San Simeon, Gammalite, Preux Chevalier and Village Kid were at the top of their game. He has had a life time involvement with the Western Australian harness racing industry, formerly General Manager of the Western Australian Trotting Association at Gloucester Park and currently Secretary / Manager of Fremantle Harness Racing Club. He takes annual leave every year to travel to the Inter Dominion as a HRT tour escort.
Needless to say Ross has had a great deal of experience, not only as a tour escort but also as a top level administrator responsible for the successful conduct of major harness racing events such as the Inter Dominion.
His dedication to the administration, marketing and promotion of harness racing at both a club and industry level made him a worthy recipient of the Australian Harness Racing Council “Distinguished Service Award” in 2003. The award was given in recognition of almost forty years of exemplary service to both the Western Australian Trotting Association and the Fremantle Harness Racing Club.
Popularly known as the “Minister for Calcuttas” he is the consummate organizer and takes charge of our popular Calcutta every year. He and his wife Toni have hosted many successful “extended tours” throughout Australia and New Zealand which Ross says is the highlight of his tour escorting experience.
He says “I have seen many changes during my lifetime involvement with harness racing but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the people. Having been involved as a tour escort for many years with Geoff Broome and now HRT it’s great to catch up with our regular passengers each year and also to welcome new tour members. I know that for many people the tours are their annual holiday. We are entrusted with the responsibility of giving them a holiday to remember and it keeps us on our toes although it’s not like we are really working – more like we are enjoying the experience with them”.
Mark Lowe
Born and bred in Tamworth NSW, Mark was a school teacher for twenty years followed by a stint as a Golf Club Manager for three years. He is now content with a less stressful life working at a local TAB outlet and moonlighting behind the counter of a retail liquor store.
Mark’s ability to talk for hours without taking a breath together with a flair for journalism led to a part time job as a radio announcer at the ABC in Tamworth. His regular weekend program has been covering sporting events (including harness racing) in North Eastern NSW for the past sixteen years. A keen hockey player and avid golfer for many years he has hung up the hockey stick but still pokes around the golf course with a sub ten handicap.
Mark's interest in harness racing spans almost 40 years, since his family took him to the trots as a teenager. His involvement has been vast and varied as a trainer, breeder, owner, administrator, official (mobile starter, judge, timekeeper, race caller) and small time punter. As an owner he has had some limited success with pacers Southside Park (10 wins), Our Magic Girl (7), Game Dancer (3), Sheza Sportsmodel (9), Sheza Supermodel (1) and trotter Divine Dancer (3). He is still searching for that elusive champion!
Mark first attended the Inter Dominion with HRT as a passenger thirteen years ago and hasn’t missed one since. After a couple of years as a passenger he was offered the opportunity to become a tour escort because of his great personality and enthusiasm for meeting and enjoying the company of others. He has been a tour escort for eleven years and is our specialist USA tour escort having escorted our 2004/5/6/7 Little Brown Jug USA tours.
Robert Senior
Robert was born into harness racing and got hooked at an early age with his father being a hobby trainer / driver. Living in Victoria’s Yarra Valley he got involved with the local club and served as a Committeeman, Treasurer and Country Clubs representative for 13 years. He served as Secretary / Manager of the Yarra Valley Racing Centre 1994 – 1997.
He has enjoyed moderate success breeding Standardbreds since 1982 mainly as a result of purchasing two fillies in 1990, one of which was his most successful mare “Edacity” (14 wins 4 city) who is also the dam of his best horse “Mendacity” (20 wins 8 city and a Newcastle Cup so far). The other mare produced “Willamette” (11 wins 6 city) and “Sigalas” (5 wins so far).
Rob rates taking Mendacity to the 2005 Auckland Inter Dominion as one of his biggest thrills in harness racing where the horse ran fourth in two of the heats.
“It really was an exciting time for Maria and I as we were still celebrating the birth of our then nine month old twin boys Riley and Macaulay”.
Rob has been a HRT tour escort since 1998. His first trip was to the Auckland Inter Dominion in 1984 with Geoff Broome and he has only missed a couple of Inter Dominions since. He has travelled to the USA and Canada for the Meadowlands Pace and the Hambletonian and is also a regular at the annual Bathurst Gold Crown carnival.
Alison Jobe
Alison lives at Bungaree (near Ballarat) in Victoria with her trainer, driver, farrier, husband Julian. She has had a lifetime involvement with owning and racing standardbreds. Since retiring from a fulltime teaching career she is just as busy being a licensed strapper, the stablehand at home, committee member of the Ballarat & District Trotting Club (since 1996) and a 30 year member of the Metropolitan Harness Racing Club. She even finds time to teach Reading Recovery on a part time basis at Redan Primary School.
After a few years of travelling on Harness Racing Travelworld tours Alison could easily have been mistaken as a tour escort. She is a great organiser, a very caring person and has a great sense of humour. At the 2006 Tasmania Inter Dominion she was inducted into the HRT team and conducted a very successful six day tour around the Apple Isle.
Geoff Broome
Geoff’s involvement with the harness racing travel business began in 1965. He soon established “Geoff Broome’s Travelworld” as a household name within the harness racing community taking large groups of people on organised tours to the Inter Dominion and other popular harness racing events.
His enthusiasm and broad knowledge of the sport saw him take on various roles within the industry including President of major Victorian provincial club Cranbourne for three years during the 1980’s. He is an active member of the Metropolitan Harness Racing Club and life member of the Caduceus Club and Cranbourne Harness Racing Club.
Geoff and his wife Esther were presented with the “Distinguished Service Award” by the Inter Dominion Harness Racing Council in 2002 for their significant long term contribution to the social fabric of the Inter Dominion.
His part time contribution at HRT is invaluable in the areas of tour planning and development together with projects relating to Australian Harness Racing Council meetings and events. He has thought about fully retiring a couple of times but according to him “there’s not enough time for that”.
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