WHO should be Victoria Cup favourite?

With the next of Australasia’s open class majors being less than two months away, my mind turned to trying to work out some sort of pecking order for the October 8 race.

Outstanding young Victorian pacer Catch A Wave heads to the Melton trials tonight as he prepares to find himself in new territory over the next few months.

A BURNING desire to win Australia’s three major Derbys is set to see Queensland star Leap To Fame raid Victoria in coming months.

Leviathan owner Kevin Seymour and trainer-driver Grant Dixon are yet to finalise plans, but Seymour gave the strongest indication yet that Victorians will get to see Leap To Fame in the flesh very soon.

The Inter Dominion isn’t going anywhere, at least not for the next few years.

THE drought is over. The harness racing world is starting to open-up again and the greatest of them all is getting ready to pack his bags and travel across the ditch with some of his best horses again.

Mark Purdon is coming back to Victoria.

WHAT a joy it has been having a front row seat to the rise and rise of Ladies In Red.

It was almost a year ago I started to think she was the best filly (or mare) Australia had seen since Tailamade Lombo 20 years ago.

THIS year’s Victorian Inter Dominion needs to be a line in the sand for the sport’s marquee race.

As each year passes, less people see it as the ultimate prize in the game. That’s because it has been in limbo – with exceptions here and there – for almost a decade.

Pacing queen Ladies In Red impressed at the Melton trials last night as a warm-up for the biggest test of her stellar career so far.

She charged home into second behind gifted stablemate Honolua Bay to be beaten just 2.5m in a slick 54.57sec last half.

For Ladies In Red, it was an important step towards the $305,000 Group 1 Rising Sun at Albion Park on July 9.

She will tackle the race first-up and potentially stay up north for the Group 1 Golden Girl a week later.

EXPENSIVE Ego is arguably the most polarising pacer in Australia.

In footy terms, he’s Collingwood – you either love him or hate him.

The blossoming Queensland Constellations carnival is just around the corner.

It’s shaping as a mecca for many of Australia’s stars and will be the strongest carnival we’ve seen so far this year.

Here are the 10 horses (in no particular order) I am most looking forward to seeing strut their stuff in the Sunshine State over the next couple of months.

SUPERSTAR pacer Lochinvar Art is recovering from another significant injury setback, but the Melbourne Inter Dominion still remains his target.

The one-time toast of Australasian pacing pulled a shoe and was forced into a plaster cast for several weeks.

The already super strong Victorian raid on the Queensland Constellations could get another huge boost.

In a surprise twist, trainer Andy Gath said he was looking to head north with Australia’s top trotter Majestuoso.

HARNESS fans only need to look to the Everest to see what a great thing slot races can be.

This year’s Everest is still four months away, but during the week we had racing headlines about not one but two horses – Mazu and Eduardo - being locked-in for slots.

What a week for Kate Gath.

First, she upstages Ladies In Red for the second time aboard Tough Tilly, then she reveals she is running the New York Marathon. Now she prepares to drive Catch A Wave in the Group 1 APG Gold Bullion Final at Melton on Saturday night.

IT is a touch more than 22 years since John Justice held aloft Shakamaker’s Melbourne Inter Dominion trophy.

Now he’s aiming at the great race, but this time with an emerging trotter in Mufasa Metro.

I’m loving the fact Justice is back as a feature race player.

Now The TAB Eureka has been launched and demand for slots is astronomical, what’s the best way to allocate them?

All we know for sure at this stage is naming rights sponsor TAB gets a slot as part of its deal.

So that leaves nine.

I’ve got no doubt there will be more than 20, maybe lots more, legitimate expressions of interest for those remaining slots.

IT wasn’t until he was in the parading ring for the last race when the significance of the night started to hit Mark Pitt.

He’d already driven eight winners at Launceston last Saturday night and was aboard Captain Rival for a perfect nine wins from nine drives.

“That’s when I got a bit anxious for a moment, but as soon as I went out on to the track I just treated that last race like any other race,” he said.

It is great to see such a strong Aussie flavour in the first harness slot race run in this part of the world.

There are four Aussie raiders – Alta Orlando, Mach Dan, Majestic Cruiser and Stylish Memphis – among the nine runners in Thursday night’s $NZ900,000 The Race at Cambridge.