Menin Gate and King Denny have turned back the clock to record stunning victories in Friday night’s Swan Hill pacing and trotting cups.

Form and injuries have meant it has been a long time since either of the pair graced the winner’s circle, but the duo set up tantalising tilts at this year’s Inter Dominion series with the wins.

The heavily-backed Menin Gate led from the get go, holding off spirited late charges by Im the Boss and Magical Marn to take out the 3SH Swan Hill Pacing Cup.

'The Birchip Bull's' mile rate of 1.57.3 equalled a track record over 2790m (set by Arden Rooney in 2015) and was the 2015 Victorian Horse of the Year’s first race back after a 16-month layoff due to injury.

In the What the Hill Swan Hill Trotting Cup, King Denny found good coverage from Sky Petite before turning three-wide on the final bend and coming home for a hard-fought win ahead of Our Dreamlover and Sky Petite.

It was the 2014 New Zealand 3YO Trotter of the Year’s first win since May 30 2015 and one trainer Michael Gadsden described as a “surreal” moment.

“He was such a good horse in NZ as a three-year-old and he’s been through four or five other stables since. So to finally get him somewhere near what you know he can do was a real thrill,” he said.

“Everything went to plan well. He hasn’t been stepping away from the tapes real well lately and it’s been costing him. He’s been getting off slow. I said to Denbeigh (Wade) if he gets away well enough see if you can go around and get some cover and it worked out perfectly really.”

Menin Gate trainer Michael Stanley said it had been a hard-fought pacing cup win.

“We probably had to kick up and go a little bit harder in the lead time than we expected (but) we were able to back off in the first half," Stanley said.

“I was a little bit concerned that Im The Boss didn’t do much work and when I was getting a breather he got around really cheap but full credit to the horse, he sort of had that feel about him that he wanted to win and he didn’t give in, he wanted to be the winner.”

The wins are likely to place the pair more firmly in the Inter Dominion series calculations with the next lot of TAB Inter Dominion pacing and trotting championship rankings due out at 10am on October 31.

“Hopefully with the win we can get (Menin Gate’s) ranking down below 30” Stanley said. “Hopefully we can be in that spot now where we are in contention.”

After two rounds of the Trots Country Cup Championship, Im the Boss leads on eight points, ahead of Menin Gate (five points) and Three Ways, Bad Billy and Magical Marn (three points each).

In the Maori’s Idol Trotting Championship, King Denny joins Father Christmas (six points each) atop the leader board, ahead of Our Dreamlover, Margaret Ruth and Kyvalley Barney (three points each).

On Saturday, the third leg of the Trots Country Cup Championship will be the Cranbourne Pacing Cup, while the Maori’s Idol Trotting Championship resumes at Yarra Valley on November 8.