Regrettably, in today’s post-modern, pseudo corporate, process laden landscape, something significant has been sacrificed in the wonderful world of sporting warfare.

The element of surprise.

Remember when coaches like Kevin Sheedy, often through genius and sometimes via madness, switched defenders forward and forwards to defence, or turned his star to tagger as a way of courting chaos?

Then there were the batsman who were brought into attack and underarm deliveries that copped all types of flack.

Those that have watched legendary doco The Last Dance will even have witnessed the unthinkable when Michael Jordan, the GOAT of GOATS, was told the last shot wasn’t his to confound and perplex opposition expectation.

Fortunately, harness racing hasn’t followed this path; that much is obvious from the past two weeks.

On May 13 at Melton Park, Leigh Sutton – notably mercurial in more ways than one – casually flipped the script in the evening’s opening event, crossing at the start with despised roughie Red Hot Assassin.

Unlikely as it was, that ostentatious and seemingly outrageous tactic resulted in triumph.

Then, last weekend, Victoria’s reigning premiership winner Jimmy Herbertson flicked a staggeringly similar switch when Im Shadow Boxer bombed his rivals early, took a trail in transit and found himself victorious as a sweet reward.

Like Red Hot Assassin the Saturday prior, Im Shadow Boxer crossed the line at Vic HQ paying giant odds.

The reason for these inflated dividends, on both occasions, is simple.

Brilliant, measured, surprising tactics that nobody – neither punters nor rivals – ever saw coming.

Given that these harness heroics have materialised two weekends straight, one is left to wonder which courageous and cavalier pilot will chance their arm tonight?

Will Herbie pull the trigger with Tiger Band Wagon in the opening event despite that fellow’s typically conservative pattern?

Will his fellow Victorian premiership winner Kate Gath reignite Balenciago’s gate speed two races later? Or does Nathan Jack take a chance and launch Letsrockletsroll, sensing over just six furlongs that’s his only hope?

Could Jackie Barker blast the arm with Sew What in the evening’s fast class feature, the Bold David Free For All? Or does young Codi Rauchenberger choose to charge out with Irvine – a noted sit-sprinter – knowing how little speed there is on race seven’s front line?

Truth be told, none of these hypothetical scenarios may come to pass.

Then again, and this is the beauty of bombshell tactics, one of them just might.

While many punters yearn for predictability and make their crust on patterns, the last fortnight at Melton has – or should have – reminded investors and reinspeople alike, that risks can be rewarded.

Of course, it’s also true that they are often not.

But how will anyone know if they never take a chance?

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.