Despite its obvious drawbacks, it remains patently clear that Victoria’s pandemic-enforced periods of regional racing widened our eyes to myriad lessons and learnings.

The inaugural running of the Group 2 Queensland Sun will be one of many highlights on a big 11-race card out of Albion Park tomorrow night.

With the cost of living sky rocketing, footy crowds down and life feeling a little different in a post peak COVID world, the pressure is on now more than ever to get fans trackside.

Pacing queen Ladies In Red impressed at the Melton trials last night as a warm-up for the biggest test of her stellar career so far.

She charged home into second behind gifted stablemate Honolua Bay to be beaten just 2.5m in a slick 54.57sec last half.

For Ladies In Red, it was an important step towards the $305,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 9.

She will tackle the race first-up and potentially stay up north for the Group 1 Golden Girl a week later.

Outstanding harness driver Zachary Butcher is going to try what no other New Zealand horseman has been able to successfully pull off before: becoming a true inter-Island reinsman.

Butcher has revealed his plans to start travelling every weekend between his base in the North and Canterbury to drive at predominantly Addington for Friday night meetings.

We have all been guilty. We have all been a prisoner of the moment.

And some of us are in that boat right now - after a Summer of Glory to remember, one which has presented harness racing with so many positives and so many ways to build the sport moving forward.

In much simpler times, we’d be having regular discussions about boom horses from New Zealand and whether or not they were set to teach our best a lesson when they arrived in Australia.

With the ongoing COVID-19 battle and very few horses making the trip across the Tasman, these conversations have been few and far between.

But one has emerged in recent weeks and it centers around the three-year-old fillies’ crop.

Eleven breeders have co-authored the following to Harness Racing Australia, in regards to its April 16 announcement titled 'Proposed Stallion Levy to Fund $2m Additional Prizemoney'.

The letter's being published here in thetrots.com.au's new space, The Forum, which is designed to encourage conversation in the sport.