Victoria may yet get its Eureka moment

The world’s richest harness race will be run in NSW on September 2, but Victoria will provide the backbone to it.

As the slots start to fill for the inaugural $2.1 million TAB Eureka, there is a growing chance Victoria could provide half the harness racing field.

Already two of the first four confirmed runners – Catch A Wave (Captaintreacherous) and Captain Ravishing (Captaintreacherous) – are Victorian owned and trained. The other two are from Queensland (Leap To Fame) and NSW (My Ultimate Ronnie).

And we know another two slots – those “owned” by Racing Queensland and Tasracing – will be filled by pacers from their own states.

That still leaves another four slots open, so let’s look through the frontrunners to fill those slots as it currently stands.

The hottest remaining property is last season’s gun Victorian three-year-old The Lost Storm (Captaintreacherous).

He is an absolute lock for a slot and if the jungle drums are correct, which slot he runs in will be announced very soon.

Given the race is restricted to three and four-year-olds, The Lost Storm will be a major factor, especially with the advantage of the preferential barrier draw he gets as a three-year-old.

Expect his odds to shorten quickly from $9 when he is a confirmed runner and returns to racing in the sort of form most expect in coming weeks.

The Lost Storm is an excitement machine and he will make it a third Victorian in the TAB Eureka.

He is also just one of a few Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin-trained stars high on the radar with the remaining slot owners.

Brilliant mare Encipher (Captaintreacherous) is another.

The four-year-old has raced just 23 times for 14 wins, seven seconds, a third and banked $553,099.

Encipher is proven at the top level, albeit against her own sex. She’s contested six Group 1 races for the remarkable record of four wins and two seconds.

And she’s already shown she’s returned in strong style this season with a narrow but impressive win in the Richmond Lass at Melton on May 20.

Don’t forget, Encipher also gets a barrier advantage being a four-year-old mare. She will start from just outside the three-year-olds in the race, so it could be as close as barrier two or three.

Yes, Encipher is South Australian-owned and bred by Tyson Linke, but she is trained in and has done the vast majority of her racing in Victoria.

She is headed to the Queensland Constellations in July and maybe slot owners will wait to see how she performs there before locking her in, but it wouldn’t surprise me if somebody pounced before then.

The Nathan Jack-trained three-year-old School Captain (Captaintreacherous) would be another lock for the TAB Eureka, but Jack isn’t keen given niggling issues have kept the young star from the track so far this season.

He’s got the ability, but maybe not the ringcraft to tackle what will be a super strong race at this stage of his career.

Another of Stewart and Tonkin’s young stars, Petracca, must also be in the mix.

He’s been sparingly raced, but has shown moments of elite speed and brilliance in his five wins from just seven starts.

Again, he’s a three-year-old and, like his stablemate and contemporary The Lost Storm, would get the barrier draw advantage. Maybe the gruelling 2400m trip around Menangle is the query with him.

Talented NSW pair Ripp and Better Be The Best are others who are surely under consideration.

I’m sure there will be at least four Victorians in the TAB Eureka, but five is a genuine chance.

So, we didn’t win the hosting rights for the race, but will have a great hand in it and a fantastic chance of winning it.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing Australia