The new Trans-Tasman pacing rivalry of the flying four-year-olds may be a long way from seeing any resolution.

Champion trainer Mark Purdon says dual open class Group 1 winner Akuta is almost certain to stay home for the rest of 2023 and not go head to head with any of Australia’s glamour boys.

Purdon has barely travelled a horse to Australia since Covid and has openly not been a fan of the traditional Inter Dominion being run early in the summer.

Trainer Tony Herlihy has swapped one trotting star with a pedal bone fracture for another as his two top squaregaiters have passed like ships in the night at his stables.

For pacing hero Copy That only one race matters now and that looks certain to see him miss the rich Queensland winter carnival for a well-earned break.

Muscle Mountain may have missed the final lead-up race to tonight’s $180,000 Reharvest Rowe Cup, but that could be the best thing to happen to him.

No sooner had a surprising recovery put Akuta back in the frame for the Auckland Trotting Cup this Friday than his chances received another body blow.

Normally the name of a race has very little to do with the result but that may not be the case in the Roy Purdon Memorial at Alexandra Park tonight.

The $45,000 feature is the final lead-up to next Friday’s Auckland Cup and lead-up races to Group 1s can be dangerous for punters because the driving tactics are often conservative as nobody wants to give their horse a gutbuster a week out from the more lucrative target.

Trainer John Dickie has seen something this week he hadn’t in a long time from his exciting pacer Old Town Road.

He ran past another horse.

It may have only been a Pukekohe workout and the horse Old Town Road ran past, Kango, may have fought back to beat him, but for Dickie the intent of his stable star’s sprint was a crucial pointer to his chances at Alexandra Park over the next eight days.

The South Island reinforcements have arrived just in time to save one of Alexandra Park’s biggest carnivals from being a disaster.

And the new arrivals coupled with the large numbers of South Island stars already based in the north for the autumn carnival should ensure two successful Friday nights, even if doubts remain over the timing of the Auckland Cup.

John Dunn admits he and Triple G probably can’t beat hot favourite Don’t Stop Dreaming in tonight’s NZ $150,000 Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington, but he still has to have a plan to try.

The harness racing rivalry that could headline coming seasons in New Zealand resumes at Addington tonight with stable confidence one of the protagonists has gone to a new level.

Trainer John Dickie is convinced Old Town Road’s Auckland Cup campaign is back on track.

But he says getting him back FROM the track might be the problem.

Natalie Rasmussen’s pre-race plan for the NZ Messenger went out the window in a matter of seconds at Alexandra Park on Friday night and she loved every minute of it.

Rasmussen was called in for a rare drive on Self Assured and was initially disappointed when she drew outside Copy That, expecting the favourite to lead.

Ian Dobson landed a magical group race ownership double at Alexandra Park on Friday night but they came under very different circumstances.

One of racing’s luckiest owners wasn’t feeling all that lucky for much of last Friday before The Race By Grins gave him a shot at one of the more remarkable doubles in New Zealand racing history.

For the little pacer who can Copy That the winning isn’t the hard part.

He proved that again in the $1 million Race by Grins at Cambridge on Friday night as he led and raced away from Old Town Road to record a paint by numbers victory in New Zealand’s richest harness race.

More than speed, stamina, manners or luck, tonight’s $1million The Race by Grins could come down to decisions.

You might think all races come down to decisions, or the tactics employed by the drivers, but in reality, some just don’t.

The most successful driver in Australian harness racing history returns to Cambridge tonight with two horses and one plan.

Better Eclipse may bring one of the fastest Australian mile times ever to tomorrow’s $1million The Race by Grins, but he is lacking in that most Australian of qualities: hype.