Despite the forces which persistently, perpetually seek to sanitize sport and reshape its rituals, some things – thankfully – will never, ever change.

One such tradition is pre-match trash talk.

Funnily enough, many of history’s finest trash-talkers have also been the benchmarks in their chosen fields.

Think Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Sean Avery (he’s a Canadian ice hockey player for those that might not know) and, quite possibly the king of condescension, Conor McGregor.

Here’s the thing, however.

Jordan may have mentioned that he’ll dunk on you at some point, and Ali deigned to dictate the emotions of any given rival with his freakish phrasing and wonderful gift for words.

But they were nothing more than that, words, epithets, expressions.

Things are slightly different when it comes to harness racing.

Tonight, Melton will stage two Inter Dominion deciders, one for trotters and the other for pacers.

Courtesy of Monday night’s barrier draws, the squaregaiting final doesn’t naturally lend itself to threatening declarations.

In fact, the closest we’ve come to genuine trash talk for that $250,000 feature is an interview with Greg Sugars during the week where he calmly yet comprehensively outlined the ways in which his three chief adversaries would not, or could not, prevail.

The problem for one of Australia’s greatest reinsmen, however, is that his charge, Just Believe, has drawn the second row.

That means he can question, but not control the fates of those he seeks to conquer with the three-time heat winner.

The Inter Dominion pacing final; it’s a very different kettle of fish.

With epic pace drawn throughout the front row, and particularly those inside five barriers, pre-race mind-games were always part of the picture.

Leading the charge is David Moran.

Withing minutes of Monday night’s draws Moran – who pilots Honolua Bay – was telling everyone from the function singer to the slightly confused security guard that his boy would be leading, and retaining that advantage, at all costs.

Similarly, Cam Hart, who will steer Len Smith Mile-winning polemarker I Cast No Shadow, has spoken of his plans to kick through and keep the top.

Verifying the veracity of these declarations is, quite frankly, impossible.

Their intention, you see, is not moral but manipulative.

And believe it or not, unlike basketball, or boxing, or football, or soccer, these comments may impact the winner of harness racing’s greatest and most prestigious race.

More importantly, they’ll ensure that racing lovers of all denominations will be utterly beside themselves by the time the mobile rolls for this year’s Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final.

It may not suit the passive politicians of this world, but trash talk, particularly trash talk with proper pragmatic consequences, is very good for sport and integral for the trots.

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.