No sporting pursuit relies on powers of recovery quite like the Inter Dominion series.
Tonight, the second round of qualifiers for this year’s ID will be staged at Shepparton without the dust yet truly settling on round one preliminaries on Saturday night in Ballarat.
And it’s not only horses that must quickly turn and burn, but also humans.
Jodi Quinlan, for instance, has had less than 72 hours in which to celebrate her outrageous driving double at Ballarat.
Jess Tubbs and Greg Sugars are in the same boat.
That’s not entirely accurate; they haven’t had anywhere near 72 hours of celebration.
Sugars was back at work Sunday, racing at Cranbourne, while Tubbs was training at Kilmore on Monday.
For her part, Quinlan was back winning on Monday at Kilmore, in partnership with Craig Demmler, the man who mentored Ofortuna to victory on Saturday night.
These names above, they are but a few.
So many other trainers and drivers have kept on keeping on between Ballarat’s Inter Dominion launching pad on Saturday night and its sophomoric stanza this evening at Shepparton.
They, however – rightly or wrongly – are used to this level of personal brutality.
The horses are not.
So, who will thrive and who will dive on the three-day back-up?
Typically, we’d worry about younger standardbreds navigating their way through this most testing of series.
Not so much this year.
In round one, the four-year-old brigade brought the heat.
Think Better Eclipse, think Act Now, and, to a slightly lesser extent, think Narutac Prince, Beyond Delight, Queen Elida and Mufasa Metro.
None of those standardbreds seem fragile or frail.
Yet we’ll only know who’s capable of racing four times in three weeks at some point Saturday night.
The other important factor for consideration at Shepparton tonight is points.
Who has them and who needs them.
Act Now, for instance, has landed an ungenerous second line draw on night two of this Inter Dominion series but can compete to his own strengths after gaining maximum coverage on night one at Ballarat.
In contrast, One Over All has no choice but to race for a top-two finish at any cost tonight after breaking stride and finishing last on night one.
The final question punters must answer at Shepparton is this.
Which horses, when this series began, saw the sprint heats as their saving grace?
Horses like Huli Nien, Bulletproof Boy and maybe Vacation Hill.
How far will these horses go to land their highest possible point tally at their preferred distance?
Once again, respecting the ID series’ complexity and answering these key questions will be crucial for profiting tonight.
And if you make a few mistakes, don’t beat yourself up.
Some ID queries are only known once races have been contested.
And even when tonight’s complete, we’re only halfway done.
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.