Sporting commentators, across the board, tend to relish one refrain over all others when the competitive contests they’re broadcasting upon trend toward the unpredictable or even insane.

Almost out of instinct, they plaintively report that “you couldn’t possibly script this”.

Logically, of course, this phrase makes no sense whatsoever; you can honestly script anything.

Nevertheless, one would need to find a screenwriting savant like Francis Ford Coppola to build the narratives which often materialise at Victorian harness racing’s metropolitan level these days.

Take Saturday night as an example.

Act one – comprising races one to three inclusive - from the most recent Melton meeting was relatively uneventful.

It almost felt like punters were being lulled into a false sense of security.

In this opening stanza, favourites, or at least market leaders, were dominating in the way most smart judges expected.

Sure, popular elect Magnetic Terror was rolled in the opening event, but only by his major threat Beach Memories before Chris Svanosio duo Aldebaran Miley and Arcee Phoenix lobbed at $1.65 and $1.08 respectively.

This is what legendary playwrights do, however.

They keep their viewers calm and lower their guards before the real conflict begins.

They also love to build the drama slowly through act two which, in this analogy, includes races four through six.

On Saturday night, the start of this second upset was challenging but far from brutal.

The actors, or drovers, returned to the stage to enact a war scene between Harry Stamper and Ultimate Stride which paved the way for something of a minor upset as Courage Stride bombed the pair off a softer run.

Then, the pageantry reached new levels as Cobber continued what is rapidly becoming a revolutionary ascension in the opening leg of Melton’s Quaddie.

And if this particular play sought to cast an ultimate hero, Cobber gets that role.

Soon afterward, to complete this screenplay’s second stanza, things got significantly wilder again as Cemetery Bay, a mid-level Sunraysia-centric five-year-old, saluted in truly theatrical fashion at $61.

At this point intermission was called and patrons, better known as punters, were afforded their hance to breathe and decompress.

Fortunately, for their own health, act three began without the mayhem of its predecessor as vastly-improved mare Dannemora cruised home at $1.45 and, for the briefest moment, set the world to rights.

This was a tragicomedy, however.

As a result, the story couldn’t remain stable.

Just as life felt as though it would return to normal, magnificent mare Encipher – like many of those watching on – experienced an arrhythmia of sorts and dropped out to the moans of her supporters.

This paved the path for Sew What to win at $23 before Sir Chow completed the play in pseudo-satisfying style by prevailing as equal favourite in pillar to post fashion.

At its best, racing and sport represent living drama; and nothing symbolizes that ethos better than harness racing right now.

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.