Inter Dominion heartbeat fading

This year’s Victorian Inter Dominion needs to be a line in the sand for harness racing’s marquee event.

As each year passes, less people see it as the ultimate prize in the game. That’s because it has been in limbo – with exceptions here and there – for almost a decade.

The biggest fork in the Inter Dominion road came when Sydney handed the hosting baton to Perth after the March 2015 series. The time slot changed from its most suited and traditional timeslot (March/April) to late November/early December. And that’s where it has been since.

As champion horseman (and passionate Inter Dominion advocate) Anthony Butt said on his weekly RSN radio slot last week, the Inter Dominion is in “nowhere land” being run when it is.

He is right.

But what Butt and others are struggling with is providing a viable solution.

Go back to March you say? Not possible. Well, at least not unless HRNSW and Club Menangle surrender the time slot they have now claimed and treasure for their biggest race and another of the sport’s few treasured brands, the Miracle Mile.

Before we go any further tossing around other possible spots in the calendar, let’s look at why November/December is flawed and will always struggle.

Top of the list is that it is simply too early in the Grand Circuit or feature race season.

In Butt’s words: “Everyone knows the beauty, or the great thing, about the Inter Dominion is that it’s a test of endurance as much as talent. In the past, owners and trainers have been willing to have a go at it because they can spell their horse afterwards … it was the last big race for the season.

“Now it’s closer to the start than the finish and it’s a real gamble, too big an ask for many, to put their horse through it when you’ve got the big WA races, a Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile Carnival to follow after it.”

Interestingly, another champion horseman Luke McCarthy said last year’s series took “a lot more than we thought” out of young gun Expensive Ego and he hasn’t been the same horse since. Hence a long spell to rebuild.

Then there is the Kiwi factor. They have been such a proud and crucial part of Inter Dominion history.

Yes, the Kiwis may have very disappointingly turned their back on hosting the Inter Dominion or contributing to its future and wellbeing, but that doesn’t mean we still shouldn’t aim to have their best horse part of it.

The current time slot makes that difficult and unlikely given NZ’s treasured NZ Cup is run just a couple of weeks before the Inter Dominion heats starts. It is doable, but not desirable. And even less desirable now NZ has bolstered its March-May period with the slot race (The Race) and Auckland Cup.

I’ll be stunned if NZ’s best pacer Self Assured tackles this Victorian Inter Dominion. And that’s despite the fact he is owned in Victoria!

And don’t forget WA. Yes, it seems (at this stage) we are a big chance of getting Magnificent Storm and maybe a couple of Team Bond pacers across to Victoria this year.

But there is very little incentive for them to come for a $500,000 final that requires them to go to the other side of the country and race four times in a fortnight.

All that when they have huge money in their own backyard with the Fremantle/WA Pacing Cup double early in the New Year.

If you needed any proof the Inter Dominion still has a heartbeat, look at some of the great stories it produced in NSW last year: 77-year-old Brian Gath driving in the trotting final; Richard Brosnan winning the trotting final 42 years after he did so with No Response; the protest drama from the pacing final.

But that heartbeat is fading. The new generation now relies on the old to “sell” them why the Inter Dominion is so special.

Former AFL star and passionate harness man Josh Jenkins recently said he didn’t rate the Inter Dominion as the ultimate because of the requirement to race four times in a week for relatively poor stake money compared to say a $1 million Miracle Mile.

This year’s Inter Dominion will be great, mostly to those who have lived its history and love it, but as each year passes, it’s losing some of its lustre.

And that’s not just sad but scary when you consider it is still the sport’s biggest “brand” – by a mile.

It’s impossible to see how it regains its mojo in the November/December timeslot.

It deserves better.

There is some talk – maybe it’s just that – that Queensland is considering a “Winter” Inter Dominion when it takes the hosting rights back next year.

Butt likes the idea.

“That would work in Queensland,” he said. “As far as states like Victoria and NSW go, why don’t we run it after the Miracle Mile. Say 2-3 weeks after so horses have time to recover. Get it back to being the last ‘big one’ of the season.

“I keep hearing ‘no, that’s too deep into AFL or NRL season, but we can’t think like that. It’s a fantastic event with a great history, let’s back it in.”

by Adam Hamilton, for HRV