There is a bit of mad genius about Andy Gath.

He’s done some wonderfully unconventional things with horses over the years, headlined by that 2021 Great Southern Star win with Tornado Valley.

The superstar hadn’t raced for four months because of injury and Gath himself didn’t decide to tackle the Great Southern Star until just a few days before.

Tornado Valley turned up and won his heat, then repeated the dose and won the final a couple of hours later.

It was astonishing stuff.

For all his greatness, Catch A Wave has continually tested Gath’s patience and drawn on all the experience gained across 40 years in the game and spending time with icons of the sport.

Catch A Wave has talent, loads of it, but it’s highly debatable whether the headstrong and enigmatic pacer would have gone anywhere near eight Group 1 wins and well over $2 million in earnings with a different trainer.

Their yin and yang has worked.

Gath has always seen Catch A Wave as a challenge and often referred to his quirks, which have been many and varied over the years.

On face value, Gath is heading to the Brisbane Inter Dominion with two of the best horses in the series.

On any measure, Catch A Wave would rank third at worst behind Leap To Fame and Don Hugo in the pacing series.

And Callmethebreeze’s European form, combined with a Great Southern Star win, make him the best credentialled horse in the trotting series.

But both are big queries, Callmethebreeze even more so than Catch A Wave.

That’s why this Saturday’s Melton meeting is so important.

Catch A Wave and Callmethebreeze will both have their only lead-up runs for Brisbane – just a week out from the first round of Inter Dominion heats.

Let’s start with Callmethebreeze because he’s such a fascinating and forgotten runner.

The multiple European Group 1 winner showed he wasn’t that far behind Just Believe when both were at their prime and beat him in that 2024 Great Southern Star, albeit almost 17 months now.

He hasn’t raced since galloping and losing all hope in the Group 1 Bill Collins Trot at Melton on October 12, last year.

Callmethebreeze has had loads of work done on his feet since and Gath had hoped to have him back racing six weeks ago.

Hia latest trial, a win at Melton last Tuesday, was better, but Kate Gath still had to nurse him rather than unleash him in the closing stages.

Has he still got it to beat the likes of Arcee Phoenix and Bet N Win?

Gath admits he doesn’t know, but he wants to find out and Saturday night will tell us a lot more.

Catch A Wave is giving him no such concerns, but Gath knows better than to take anything for granted with his “problem child”.

His trial at Melton last Tuesday was stunning.

But we’ve seen it before and Catch A Wave has let us down.

He probably can’t beat Leap To Fame and maybe Don Hugo has leap-frogged him now, too, but the best version of Catch A Wave would be a major player in this Inter Dominion.

The series lacks depth outside of the past two winners and needs a fit and firing Catch A Wave.

Let’s hope he makes a statement in the free-for-all this week and heads to Brisbane as a genuine X-factor.