Forty-three Victorian entrants are among 104 nominations for the 2018 TAB Inter Dominion Pacing Championship.
Nominations for the southern hemisphere’s most prestigious harness racing series closed today, with overall nominee numbers up on last year’s 98.
New South Wales is the second highest represented state among nominations with 38, while there are 13 New Zealand entrants, and five from both Queensland and Western Australia.
The first round of rankings will be unveiled by Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) on Wednesday, but according to series sponsor TAB, West Australian superstar Chicago Bull is outright series favourite at $6 for the Gary Hall Senior camp, ahead of Tim Butt’s Blacks A Fake winner Let It Ride at $8.
Emma Stewart-trained Shadow Sax is best of the Victorians in the market at $11.
All eyes were on the Mark Purdon All Stars yard, tipped to play an enormous role in both the New Zealand Trotting Cup and the Inter Dominion this year.
Purdon nominated five horses for ID18 – All U Need Is Faith, Cruz Bromac, Eamon Maguire, Our Dream About Me, Spankem and Turn It Up.
READ: TAB named principal sponsorship partner for ID18
But markets will react significantly to two of Purdon’s stable stars that weren’t among nominations, Ultimate Machete and The Fixer.
David Aiken has nominated three of his stable’s rising stars for ID18 in Audi Hare, Kilmore Cup winner Im The Boss and Vicbred and Breeders Crown champ Wrappers Delight.
Long Forest trainer Andy Gath has four nominees – Burnaholeinmypocket, Diamonds N Cash, Star Of Memphis and Three Ways.
Former superstar three-year-old Menin Gate is an intriguing ID18 nominee. He hasn’t raced for 16 months and is now with Michael Stanley.
Kerryn Manning meanwhile has four nominees, including gun mares Ameretto and Our Golden Goddess, plus Ideal Success and Motu Meteor.
Check out all the ID18 pacing nominees here
In the Trotting Championship 88 nominations were received. Check out the full story here.