Racing is a cruel game at times.

Just when we were starting to get seriously excited about Extreme Sea, injury strikes and halts his 10-start career.

Spare a thought for veteran Goulburn horseman David Hewitt, who bred, owns, trains and drives the four-year-old.

Forgotten star Honolua Bay is on the verge of an unlikely comeback.

The injury-plagued pacer was the toast of Aussie harness when he brilliantly won the Hunter Cup almost 16 months ago.

Champion trainer Emma Stewart is about to flex her stable muscle in the countdown to the TAB Eureka.

AFTER dominating recent major races in WA and New Zealand, many of Victoria’s best horses are being primed for a massive raid on the winter riches of the Queensland Constellations.

What a glorious flexing of the muscle it's been from a proud harness racing state, starting back on April 12 when the four trotters we had in the inaugural TAB Trot at Cambridge filled the first four placings.

No doubt many of Victoria’s top drivers are waiting and hoping for a phone call.

Last week’s exciting announcement In Queensland of the new Ultimate Driver Championship has certainly sparked loads of chatter.

Owner-breeder Duncan McPherson is drawing inspiration from trotting megastars Just Believe and Sundons Gift when his star Aldebaran Zeus returns from a year of international racing at Melton on Saturday night.

Sundons Gift unsuccessfully took on the world’s best in the 2009 Elitlopp in Sweden and returned an infinitely better horse, winning 15 of his first 20 starts back in Australia.

A Year after they set their sights on exciting pacer The Lost Storm, the Aaron Bain Racing and Summit Bloodstock team have landed their horse.

In a remarkable twist, TAB swept in and snared The Lost Storm ahead of the Aaron Bain Racing and Summit Bloodstock team last year, but they eventually had the last laugh by winning the world's richest harness race with their "back-up" runner, star mare Encipher.

Back in those dark and forgettable days of pandemic, harness racing learned something it should have embraced.

When we were all stuck at home – especially in Melbourne – and crowds are race meetings weren’t a thing, we saw the best races on Saturday night harness meetings from places like Melton, Menangle and sometimes Albion Park, run much earlier in the night.

Gifted pacer The Lost Storm will be "selling himself" when he returns to racing at Melton on Saturday night.

Connections of superstar four-year-old, who boasts 12 wins from just 17 starts, are desperate to snare a slot in the world's richest harness race, the $2.1m TAB Eureka at Menangle on September 7.

The Lost Storm ran in the TAB slot last year when just a three-year-old but was below his best, finishing seventh to stablemate Encipher.

Star four-year-old pacer The Lost Storm will launch his quest for a second crack at the world’s richest harness race when he steps out at Melton on Saturday night.

A winner of 12 of his 17 starts, The Lost Storm will have just his fourth start since last year’s $2.1mil TAB Eureka (September 2) when he resumes in the Bold David free-for-all at Melton.

In fact, the Emma Stewart-trained star has only raced once in the past seven months for an effortless win in the $50,000 Group 3 Melton Plate on March 16.

The build-up to the second running of the world’s richest harness racing is gathering momentum.

Last year’s inaugural TAB Eureka was a resounding success on every level.

And this year’s edition, while missing some of the headline-grabbing of Captain Ravishing, Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave, has the right ingredients to be another memorable race.

Saturday night will be one of the last chances for Victorians to see champion mare Ladies In Red in action.

The curtain will come down on the millionaire’s stellar career at Queensland’s rich Constellations carnival in July.

Defending champions Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin could have at least two runners in this year’s $2.1mil TAB Eureka.

The powerhouse couple had two runners last year with four-year-old mare Encipher winning and three-year-old The Lost Storm finishing seventh.

The Lost Storm is being prepared for another tilt at the world’s richest harness race, while Victoria Derby winner Petracca is also on the TAB Eureka path.

The pecking order for Australasia’s top pacers makes for a fascinating discussion.

It is why the back half of 2024, especially the open-class features, like the Blacks A Fake, Len Smith, Victoria Cup and Inter Dominion shape as terrific contests.

There is no doubt Leap To Fame is a clear top seed.

Ewa Justice is the next generation of a wonderful harness racing family and quickly making a name for herself.

Justice, 21, is the daughter of top horseman John Justice, of Shakamaker and Safe And Sound fame, Her uncle is another Hall of Famer, Lance Justice, who trained the likes of Smoken Up and Sokyola.

Go back a generation and Ewa’s grandmother, Josie, who was a driving force behind her decision to pursue race driving, was a trainer of note and prepared her last winner in January, 2022 at the age of 90. She passed away months later.

Champion mare Ladies In Red is set to race on until the Queensland Constellations.

The millionaire mare will headline a powerhouse team Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin plan to campaign across several weeks at Albion Park in July.

Owners Bill and Anne Anderson indicated the $150,000 Group 1 Golden Girl at Albion Park on July 20 could be Ladies In Red’s final race.

In the early hours of Monday, May 27, Greg Sugars will be sitting at home watching TV with his emotions swirling.

His mind will go back a year to the biggest and, ultimately, most heart-breaking moment of his career.

Trainer Brent Lilley insists his star trotting mare Queen Elida is primed to add to her fantastic Menangle record on Saturday night.

The six-year-old, fresh back from a fruitful two-race raid on NZ, has raced three times - all at Group level - at Sydney's home of harness racing for two wins and a second.