New Zealand may struggle to make much of a dent in the Ladbrokes Inter Dominion Pacing series, which begins in Brisbane tomorrow night but our chances in the trotting series continue to improve.
The Inter Dominions move to Queensland for the next three years but a hometown victory looksclose to certain in the A$1 million ($1.08m) pacing final on July 19 as Leap To Fame should dominate that division, which only has two rounds of heats this season.
But while Leap To Fame and defending champion Don Hugo should be too strong for the small Kiwi pacing team, trotters Bet N Win and Oscar Bonavena have found themselves in a series they can win.
Not only are three or four of Australia’s best trotters missing, but Bet N Win has also drawn barrier 1 in his 2138m mobile heat tomorrow and has the ability and manners to use it.
Oscar Bonavena starts off barrier two on the second line in his heat but that probably suits his natural racing style and while he has been consistent if not dazzling in recent Albion Park starts, he has at least gained local knowledge.
The Victorian trotter who beat them both in the $600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge in April, Arcee Phoenix, looks the best Australian chance of fighting off the Kiwi challenge in their A$500,000 final on July 19.
Talented New Zealand three-year-old Rubira starts in tomorrow night’s A$300,000 Rising Sun, which has also been shorn of many of its early favourites, making it a winnable race.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
