Racing: Way out west . . .

Hands up who is excited about the Interdominions, which start tonight in Perth?

Was that a hand?

Oh sorry, you just want to know where the bar is. Not even any interest over there in the hardcore harness racing corner? Fair enough.

If you hark back to the good old days, you'll recall some great stories out of the Interdominion's annals: Hondo Grattan going back to back in 1973-74, Jay Ar and Robin Dundee dead-heating for first at Forbury Park in 1965 and Our Sir Vancelot winning three in a row at the end of last century.

. . . but who cares?

What we have now is a mixture of the good and bad.

The good?

The old format of three rounds of heats is back, which should mean the toughest horse (or near to it) should prevail.

The bad?

The carnival is far too close to the New Zealand Cup carnival for any pacer to consider doing the double if they want to run in the free-for-all on Show Day as well.

No doubt you'll recognise plenty of horse names in the fields tonight.

Jason Rulz, (Our) Hi Jinx, Billies A Star, (My) Hard Copy and Blazin N Cullen are just some of the horses who started their careers on this side of the ditch but have found their niche in Australia.

That might entice you to have a bet, but me - I'll save my money for something closer to home.

Although I might run a book on how far from the leaders the Irish pacer Meadowbranch DJ ends up after tonight's heat.

That could be one of racing's great failed experiments.

Smithys sucking?

Usually, the first column in December means it is time for the Smithys - an irreverent (and imaginary) awards ceremony where I hand out gongs for those in the industry who have had a shocker in some way or another.

It's been a tough old 2015 for many of us, so the lighter moments haven't been easy to find.

I have one award in the bag, but that poor fella has won regular Smithys so I'm worried about giving him one more as he might start aiming for the prestigious non-trophies from now on.

If you have anything to pass on, let me know at the email address below, otherwise it might be a brief ceremony next week.

Lazy Fiver

Another happy reader, as $75 went to Ian Rutherford courtesy of Its Oscar's win at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

Ian tells me he wondered what I was doing picking an unruly trotter, but he was grateful all the same.

Bryan Ross, from Invercargill, will have to wait until race 9 at Cromwell on Sunday for Querer to make use of a light weight over 1220m.

This week's question: Name one of the 12 drivers competing in the Trans Tasman Drivers Challenge at Ascot Park on Sunday.

Email your name, contact number and TAB account number to the address below.

matt.smith@odt.co.nz

- Check out Matt's two-minute racing tips video at www.odt.co.nz every Friday

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