Grand Circuit racing faces massive change 22 July 2014 By Michael Guerin The landscape of elite harness racing in Australasia is set to change dramatically today. But what effect that has on New Zealand’s two greatest races is anybody’s guess. The entire feature-race calendar in Australia is set to move to after Christmas, with the biggest shock being the Miracle Mile moving from its traditional November date to March in 2016. That news will break in Australia today after Perth is confirmed as the new home of the Inter Dominion, which will return to the old format of three heats and a Grand Final, as indicated last week. Bidding for the rights to the Inter Dominion for 2016-18 closed yesterday and WA was the only state to chase the series so will host it for three years and looks almost certain to retain it as clubs in Australia’s eastern states and New Zealand concentrate on their home grown features. NSW track Menangle will still host the Inter Dominion next season but when it moves to Perth in 2016 the Miracle Mile will take its place on the seven-group one day in March which has become Australian harness racing’s biggest meeting. The meeting, which also plays host to the NSW Derby, Oaks, Chariots Of Fire and Ladyship Mile was created to compliment the Inter Dominion two years ago and attracts New Zealand’s best harness horses. The Miracle Mile move follows Harness Racing Victoria’s decision to change the Victoria Cup from December to late January, creating a two-month long window of epic races across Australia. But it means Australian harness racing trainers may want to keep their powder dry pre-Christmas and leaves New Zealand’s pacing elite without obviously targets after the New Zealand Cup from next year. Traditionally NZ superstars have contested New Zealand Cup week and then headed to Sydney for the Miracle Mile two weeks later and the Victoria Cup two weeks after that. Now they will be a void of $100,000-plus races from after Cup week till January, although that gap could be slightly filled by minor features like the Ballarat Cup or Len Smith Mile being moved. The affect that will have on the New Zealand Cup carnival will be crucial, with some Australian trainers unlikely to want to be up and running for a 3200m grind in November. But the flipside is any Australian star going well through the winter or spring will have no obvious target at home so Cup week looms as the sole logical aim. Which means Addington bosses will never have a better time to look at boosting the stakes for their iconic race as well as the New Zealand Free-For-All three days later. The changes in Australia raise the possibility of genuine world championship racing in this part of the world between January and March, with the best Kiwis certain to cross the Tasman and the time slot the most logical for leading US pacers to be sponsored down to contest the new series of races. NSWHRC club boss John Dumesny says the Miracle Mile could now become a truly international race. “And we think the March slot is perfect for us to try and lure leading North American pacers down to Australia and make the Miracle Mile carnival one of the world’s best.” It would not surprise to see Victorian, Queensland and NSW harness bosses work together to create a circuit of world class races at a time when the US pacing scene is in hibernation. The best North American pacers could head to Australia, race for over $2million and then return home having missed no features at home. That would provide an opportunity to rate the likes of Terror To Love and Christen Me, or in the past Christian Cullen or Elsu, against the best in the world, something that has happened only occasionally in the last 30 years. The busy March schedule could be deemed detrimental to the Auckland Cup but strangely that hasn’t been the case since the Inter Dominion moved to be just five days before the Auckland Cup in the last two years. Two years ago I’m Themightyquinn beat Terror To Love and Bettor Cover Lover in the Cup after all three had raced at Menangle a few days before while this season Terror To Love beat Adore Me, with both of them returning from Menangle. The bigger question is whether many New Zealand horses will be good enough, and their connections interested, in heading to West Australia for the Inter Dominion, which now looks best placed in the second half of March. WA officials say they will put on a free air service to help negate costs and the heats will be worth serious money, so they will be doing all possible to attract NZ’s pacing elite.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:04:34 +0000
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