After March’s Miracle Mile, when King Of Swing left his horseshoes on track at Menangle for the final time and Lochinvar Art was recovering from an abbreviated summer prep, harness racing was in a purgatory of sorts.

Then, just weeks ago when Lochinvar Art’s glorious Australian career ended, that situation became exponentially worse.

Harness racing, like all sports, lives and dies on its superstar performers; we needed a champion and we needed one fast.

Initially, that burden of responsibility for carrying the trots’ promotional fortunes was left to megastar mare, Ladies In Red.

And given her recent success in Queensland’s Rising Sun, understandably so.

The fact she was beaten on Saturday night in the Make Mine Cullen should hardly dull the excitement surrounding her summer to come – she was outrageous in defeat.

The greater concern for marketing gurus is that Ladies In Red will target mares-only events between now and the end of 2022.

Fortunately for all concerned, however, we do have another burgeoning superhero which Harness Racing Victoria – and the sport nationwide – can clearly hitch their wagon to.

His name is Rock N Roll Doo, known affectionately around the stables as Hendo.

The fact that Michael Stanley’s lightly-raced four-year-old won the Group 1 Victoria Cup is wonderful; but it is the way he won that Grand Circuit feature which matters even more.

Having previously claimed the VHRC Caduceus Classic and the time-honoured Kilmore Pacing Cup in the lead-up to his Vic Cup tilt, Rock N Roll Doo was already building his reputation as something incredibly special.

But that reputation skyrocketed when he sat outside Expensive Ego and won the Vic Cup like Lennytheshark or Smoken Up on Saturday night.

It was the triumph of an exceptionally brutal young horse, racing like he knows he is better than the rest.

Magically, we now have the chance to follow our new hero’s fortunes in next month’s New Zealand Cup – and barring something unforeseen, he is the one to beat at Addington on the second Tuesday in November.

Win, lose or draw across the Tasman, Stanley and owner Brendan James face a major decision whether to tackle the Inter Dominion series on home soil once he returns to Victoria.

Here is hoping, here is almost praying that he does.

Leap To Fame is the real, genuine deal.

On Saturday night at Tabcorp Park, Grant Dixon’s versatile and bottomless youngster became the first three-year-old in more than a decade to claim a triumvirate of Derby successes in the one season.

In recent years, Dixon along with leviathan owners Kevin and Kay Seymour have had several gifted young pacers.

First there was Majestic Mach and Colt Thirty One.

Talented as they were, however, Leap To Fame looks like being better than both.

The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.