Champion trotter Just Believe headlines a long and impressive list of Victorian stars preparing to chase huge races at home and far away in coming months.

The global megastar could make an unlikely midweek racing return in next Tuesday’s $30,000 Shepparton Trotters’ Cup.

It would be a launching pad towards a trip back across the ditch to NZ, but Christchurch this time, to chase the now rescheduled $NZ400,000 Group 1 Dominion Trot at Addington.

In a smart move to further bolster the already iconic NZ Cup Day, Harness Racing NZ announced last Friday the Dominion would come forward three days from the Friday to be run alongside the NZ Cup.

When you throw in a support card, including a Sires Stake final and Junior Free-For-All, let alone the emerging talent the day always produces, it will ensure NZ Cup Day is as strong as any race day in this part of the world.

And hopefully it will see a return to the sell-out crowds Addington enjoyed prior to the pandemic.

That should be a given if Just Believe and Leap To Fame turn up to race for the first time on the same day against NZ’s best.

But there is lots to play out for Victoria’s stars before then.

Most immediate is the world’s richest race, the TAB Eureka.

Victorian-trained mare Encipher won the inaugural running of the $2.1mil race last year and trainer Emma Stewart described it up with any thrill she’s had in the game. She even got a tattoo to commemorate it.

So, how many Victorians will line-up this year?

That’s a fascinating question given the dramatically changing landscape of the world’s richest harness race.

It’s safe to say Stewart and co-trainer Clayton Tonkin look set to have at least two, maybe three runners in the race.

And that almost certainly won’t include The Lost Storm, who disappointed again at Melton last Saturday night, leaving slot owners Aaron Bain Racing and Summit Bloodstock no option but to look elsewhere.

I’ll be stunned if Stewart and Tonkin don’t get spots in the TAB Eureka with Bay Of Biscay and Major Delight. Even Perfect Class, who has stood-up when others have fallen, must be right in contention.

TAB Eureka night will be complemented by Australia’s next open-class feature, the $150,000 Group 1 Len Smith Mile.

Catch A Wave, who did a Catch A Wave-thing and failed to flatter first-up at Melton last Saturday night, is headed that way.

You’d expect a few others, headed by Mach Dan, to do the same.

Beyond TAB Eureka night, Victoria’s best get to play at home on October 12.

That’s Victoria Cup night.

But our best, headed by Catch A Wave, will have a vengeant Leap To Fame to contend with.

His trainer-driver Grant Dixon wants to make amends after saying he got it wrong and didn’t have Leap To Fame “screwed down enough” when beaten in a thrilling three-way photo last year.

Catch A Wave will head from there to fly the Victorian flag in WA again, this time for the $450,000 Group 1 WA Pacing Cup at Gloucester Park on November 11.

The last time he went west, he won the huge Group 1 Nullarbor/Fremantle Cup double.

And if that’s not enough, after that we’ve still got the Sydney Inter Dominion to come.

All of Victoria – or much of the trotting world to be honest – will be watching Just Believe’s quest to become the first trotter to win three Inter Dominion finals, let alone successively.

Strap yourself in, we’ve got some exciting times ahead.