While it doesn’t quite carry the glamour attached to the winter alternative, the exciting Queensland Summer Carnival will get underway tomorrow evening at Albion Park.

With a handful of group features across a variety of classes, the innovation state will roll out another new concept.

The Peak Of The Creek had four heats conducted last night (Thursday) with the barriers for tomorrow night’s Group 2 $50,000 feature then determined by connections.

The order was established by heat times, with THE GENERAL landing first selection and gate one after winning the fastest qualifier in 1minute 53.2seconds. UNCLE SHANK and MAJORCA were both ultra-impressive in their painless heat victories and have come up with gates two and three respectively, while the first and slowest heat victor THE ROCKNROLL KING starts from two on the second line in nine.  

The Be Good Johnny Sprint will also be hotly contested with several noted speedsters to do battle over the flying mile.

TURN IT UP looks in the hot seat to be the one they must run down, with his electric gate speed likely to have him in his favoured front-running position. MAKE MINE MEMPHIS has drawn perfectly in the ace and continues to race in great form, whereas WILL THE WIZARD has been freshened since his three-straight dynamic front-running performances. In a race full of intrigue, the likes of reigning Queensland Horse of the Year COLT THIRTY ONE and the flying MACH DA VINCI will have to overcome second row draws.

QBRED two and three-year-olds will also have their opportunity to race for feature prizemoney, as will the state’s best squaregaiters, who do battle over 2138m under mobile conditions.

Sky Racing Active extended coverage will be available all night for Albion Park’s bumper meeting with Chris Barsby behind the microphone, whereas I will be out on track with the last-minute insight from the major players.

The Breeders Crown is underway for another year with the rich series set to reach its climax on November 20 at Tabcorp Park Melton.

The three-year-old heats will kick-start the action tonight at Bendigo.

The three-year-old fillies this season could be a vintage crop come the end of the year, with a star-studded line-up of excitement machines. LADIES IN RED must be the top seed after her breathtaking career so far, which was further highlighted by her stunning Victoria Oaks victory, whereas the wraps on BETTOR TWIST have been large. Her Harness Jewels victory had to be seen to be believed and despite being defeated at her first start on Australian soil, her record must be respected. TOUGH TILLY, BEACH MUSIC, LIFES A BEACH and JOANNA are all extremely talented fillies in their own right and have to be major hopes throughout.

The colts and geldings’ division looks to be dominated by Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin, with their boys appearing the leading forces out of the Victoria Derby series.

ACT NOW appears to have taken an enormous leap forward, while MAJOR MOTH, the exciting and somewhat forgotten BEYOND DELIGHT and Queensland Derby victor AMERICAN DEALER look the ones to beat.

The two-year-old divisions will then roll on to Maryborough on Sunday, with positions in the semi-finals of the $300,000 series on the line. There will be four heats for the fillies and three for the colts and geldings, where it’s heartening to see representation from Queensland, New South Wales and several Kiwis.

The semi-finals for both age groups will be run at Tabcorp Park Melton the following Saturday evening, with the fast and frenetic series over and done within a matter of a fortnight. It will all wrap up just in time for ID21 to take flight!

The much-awaited return of MAJOR MARTINI will arrive this evening at Gloucester Park where he is seen under race conditions for the first time since April last year.

After his brilliant WA Derby runners-up performance, the Justin Prentice-trained four-year-old has battled leg issues since but returned publicly with a sharp Pinjarra trial a fortnight ago.

Prentice is an unbelievable young trainer and should one of his many stable stars return with a win first-up for 19 months over 2536m, it would be another amazing achievement in his relatively brief career.

In terms of competition, EUPHORIA is a last-start winner over the staying trip and has the ace gate, while BETTORSTARTDREAMING is another in-form competitor after chasing home HURRICANE HARLEY last week.

BEST of the weekend – R5 N5 Scarlet Babe @ Albion Park 

VALUE of the weekend – R3 N2 So Much More @ Albion Park

Brittany Graham is a regular host on Sky Racing and the Sky Racing Active app, plus In The Gig with Ben Way and Gareth Hall every Tuesday night on Sky Racing 2 from 6pm.

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.