THE Breeders Crown was built to unearth the stars of the future and boy did it deliver this year.

Pause and think back to what we witnessed, starting with the unbelievable win of Honolua Bay in the opening race. I can’t recall a pacer doing what he did at Melton, considering the times and ground he covered in that last lap. He could be anything.

STUNNING New Zealand Cup winner Copy That’s odds of tackling the Del-Re National A. G. Hunter Cup are shortening by the day thanks to the polarising WA Premier Mark McGowan.

Copy That’s Victorian-based owner Merv Butterworth makes no secret of the fact his preferred plan is to tackle the big Fremantle and WA Pacing Cup double at Gloucester Park early next year.

THERE might not be any Australian raiders in tomorrow’s NZ Cup, but there’s certainly a strong Aussie flavour to the great race.

Two of the biggest guns in the race, the two favourites Self Assured and Copy That, are owned in Victoria.

Defending champ Self Assured is the latest superstar raced by Jean Feiss, while leviathan owners Merv and Meg Butterworth race Copy That.

FINDING another Ride High is something Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin may never do, but they look to have a potential superstar in Honolua Bay.

WHO is the pacing princess of Australasia?

Of all the exciting racing looming in next month’s Breeders Crown, the must-watch is the battle for supremacy in this epic crop of three-year-old fillies.

When it was confirmed Bettor Twist was crossing the ditch, the Kiwis declared she would sweep all before her, given she was a six-time Group 1 winner, looked out of this world winning the Harness Jewels and was up with the best fillies they’d seen in the modern era.

NOW the dust has settled, it’s time to reflect on the Victoria Cup Carnival.

What a remarkable success it was given all the challenges of COVID and what’s even more exciting is the potential for it to go another level next year.

It still feels a bit weird to say the carnival was at Bendigo, not our home at Melton, but all the whispers and intel suggest it certainly didn’t hurt betting turnover. The dogs are barking some monstrous figures.

And I’m sure it also felt weird for the successful trainers and drivers who didn’t have that important, deserved extra layer of excitement of fans, owners, family and friends cheering trackside. That’s something we all miss, a lot.

VICTORIA Cup night should be a time to celebrate the game we love and that’s exactly what it was at Bendigo last Saturday night.

In the end, it proved a night to enjoy and, in some cases, reminisce on some of the most successful mainstays of our passionate harness racing state.

The Victoria Cup is five days away, but we could know the result just after 7pm tonight.

MOVING countries to chase your dream is one thing, but doing it and emerging from the shadows of a champion father is something else.

That’s what 2021 has been all about for Nathan Purdon.

When you carry the most famous surname in this part of the harness racing world, it has as many challenges as it does advantages. Expectations are high, but so is the pressure.

DAVID Moran knows the importance of looking ahead and not back in this game.

It would’ve been pretty easy to sulk a little when his stable star Lochinvar Art was sidelined indefinitely in his prime and then have NSW Derby winner Patsbeachstorm mysteriously and frustratingly lose his mojo.

But Moran has kept his focus and the opportunities are flowing, big time.

CHAMPION mare Amazing Dream looms as the key fresh player in Victoria’s upcoming feature races.

And, incredibly, trainer Nathan Purdon gets the vibe she may even have improved off her Group 1 victories during a huge Queensland winter campaign.

The past 24 hours have been huge for the Victoria Cup.

It will be awesome to see the untapped General Dodge take on the likes of Wolf Stride, Out To Play, Western Sonador and others in the new $100,000 Group 1 VHRC Caduceus Classic (1650m) at Bendigo on Saturday night.

These certainly are strange and challenging times.

With no signs of the pandemic easing in NSW and Victoria, there’s been lots of talk about what it means for the massively boosted Victoria Cup Carnival and NSW Inter Dominion series.

While it’s important to pause and assess things, the show will and must go on.

If that means both carnivals being less than what we hoped, then so be it.

Get ready for a Group 1 splurge from the powerhouse Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin barn.

Banglez’s Group 1 victory at Kilmore on Saturday night, is set to kick-start a romp for Stewart and Tonkin with dozens of their best horses just weeks away from returning to the races for the plethora of Victorian major races for the rest of the season.

It starts tonight (Monday) when young pacing stars Ladies In Red and Major Moth return from long stints out with trials at Melton. Out To Play, Fourbigmen and About Time are others expected at the trials tonight.

Fast-forward another week and Stewart/Tonkin will unleash truckloads of its best young pacers at the Melton trials, headed by one of Australia’s most popular pacers, three-year-old filly Tough Tilly.

THE man who dominated trotting with megastars like Lyell Creek, Take A Moment, Vulcan and others thinks he’s found his next top-liner.

Tim Butt is confident French import Holzarte Vedaquais has the talent, but now it’s a matter of building the ringcraft to be a major player in Australia’s biggest trotting races.

Whether that happens in time for our biggest trotting races early next year remains to be seen.

WHEN Harness Racing Victoria moved the Victoria Cup to October four years ago I thought it was lunacy.

I was wrong.

The stars have still turned-up and all four winners in the October timeslot have been superstars: Lennytheshark (2017), Tiger Tara (2018), Bling It On (2019) and Lochinvar Art, who beat King Of Swing and others last year.

But this Pryde's EasiFeed Victoria Cup will be next level because it’s about so much more than just the Cup itself.

TOP WA trainer Greg Bond has his sights set on the new-look Victoria Cup Carnival.

Bond and wife Skye will use the next month or so to settle which of their stable stars will chase features like the Victoria Cup, Derby and Oaks as well as the mares’ features.

Heading the contenders are former WA Cup winner Mighty Conqueror, emerging star Minstrel, classy mare Wainui Creek and three-year-olds like Dont Bother Me None, Jett Star, Boorah and Newsy.

It was the carnival that had it all.

When Racing Queensland enhanced it’s winter carnival, adding a few new Group 1 features and bolstering stakemoney, it hoped to become a real destination event of Aussie harness.

It’s only taken one year and defied all the travel hassles of a pandemic to do so.

The chorus of praise from participants likened the TAB Constellations Carnival to the glory days of the Inter Dominion when participants and fans would gather from all parts of Australia for great racing and celebrate the sport.