Try as I might, I cannot get all giggly with excitement about
this new Interdominions format that begins tomorrow night.
For those of you who haven't been following too closely (or
didn't read the guide in yesterday's ODT), the Interdoms had
an overhaul after last year's series in Perth. Harness Racing
NSW now has the rights for the series until 2015, and in its
infinite wisdom, it has decided to hold heats throughout
Australasia tomorrow night before the final is held at
Menangle on Sunday, March 3.
... what it . . .
While it's pleasant to have all the heats being run within a
couple of hours for viewing purposes, hasn't Harness Racing
NSW forgotten what the Interdoms was all about? It's supposed
to be a grinding slog, a war of attrition (although I'm not
going to pull out any Anton Oliver-style quotes here), heat
after heat of Australasia's best pacers beating each other up
on the track every few days
.... used to be
This, my friends, seems watered down. The Interdominions
Lite, shall we say, where all you have to do is finish
somewhere near the top of your solitary heat then line up and
hope for luck on the day. When there were three rounds of
heats (or even two in later years), you had to earn your spot
in the final by producing the goods in each heat or risk
missing out. The latest twist is the weakness of the first
heat at Menangle tomorrow, which will still have the first
four qualify for the final, while three (don't get me started
on that, either) group one winners race for two spots at
Alexandra Park tomorrow night. Righty-ho.
High on winning
It was good to see Jerry Garcia win at Waikouaiti on Sunday
to continue his good recent form. I noted that he and his
human namesake from the Grateful Dead had one thing in common
- they both do/did their best work on grass ...
Lazy Fiver
Zurella flashed home late to get us some nice place money at
Te Rapa on Saturday. There is always a good dividend or two
on offer at Motukarara, so Amy's Invasion gets the nod in
race 9 today at 5.15pm. Swedish-born trainer Mattias
Hjalmarsson has hopped off and given the drive to Dexter
Dunn. Forget about her last run and back her on the grass
today.
- matt.smith@odt.co.nz
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