In the last column I wrote for The Forum, I posed a question as to which race you’d most like to win as an owner?

And despite this race being the most taxing on the animal and carrying the lowest cash purse, the feedback overwhelming went towards the prestige of the Inter Dominion.

That did surprise me but it also speaks to the brand recognition that comes with the Inter Dominion.

As stated, the ID was well down my list of preferred races thanks largely to what’s expected of the horse versus what jumps in from a prize money perspective. It’s not all about money but racing the most, for the least amount of money makes little sense to me.

But, the feedback was clear and the ID still holds the No.1 mantle as the most coveted race in the sport, which is something I’d like to explore in this edition.

COVID-19 crushed ID20 – meant to be held in NSW – which many thought was the wrong decision.

Sure, the logistics were going to be incredibly difficult and the restrictions on travel would’ve seen the event majorly curtailed, but if it was good enough to hold the AFL Grand Final in Brisbane in front of 30,000 fans then I felt it was good enough to hold ID20 in front of no fans with a less than ideal crop of horses.

When I was banging my head against a brick wall trying to become a professional basketball player, the NBL was in a horrendous position as a business. At the end of one poor season, the idea of closing the doors and trying to reboot the league at a later date was mooted. That would have been disastrous. The NBL soldiered on and now – almost 15 years later – the league is blossoming in every way possible.

Now, by no means am I suggesting the ID – or lack thereof – would place harness racing on the brink, but there are issues emerging for this year’s version that should have officials scrambling.

Last week, leading reinsman Luke McCarthy stated a clear concern over the structure of the NSW ID21.

As is, there will be a heat at Menangle but also a trip to Bathurst and a trip to Newcastle, which is at the heart of the concern shown by McCarthy when he joined RSN 927.

West Aussie trainer Ryan Bell was on the same program immediately after McCarthy and he aired his own concerns about the considerable travel.

With genuine uncertainty around what we will and will not be able to do when ID21 comes around, we cannot lock in many – if any – Kiwi visitors either.

So imagine our greatest race, with fully fit horses such as Shockwave, Wolf Stride, King of Swing (and others) choosing to bypass the event because of things completely within our control.

The industry needs to work together on ensuring its biggest event has as much star power as possible. Yes, the aspect of toughness, durability and the ability to perform four times in two weeks is one of the major draws of any Inter Dominion, but when the industry’s top horse people are saying it’s too much, we all need to listen.

So, I’ve outlined some issues for ID21, how about some solutions?

Changing the dates around the four race nights alters the fabric of the series, so that’s off the table. Would swapping the order of the heats be enough to encourage connections to enter their top stock?

Night one on November 27 we travel to Newcastle, four days later we stick to the home of NSW racing at Tabcorp Park Menangle, which removes much of the travel for horses, and then Sunday December 5 we venture over the hills to Bathurst?

Of course, the major track is Menangle and they’d be desperate to host the opening night of the series, but for the good of the sport, perhaps a shift in programming is needed.

You’d hope those at the steering wheel are as eager to ensure the good horses turn up as us fans are.

Nothing would be more frustrating for November 27 to come around and instead of talking about the return of our greatest race we are talking more about the horses who have decided to skip the series because of travel… and a lack of cash.

Which is my final point – and one we cannot fix for this year but one we need to be putting all our energies into. The $30,000 heats and $500,000 prize for the pacers and the even lower $20,000 heats and $150,000 final for trotters is, in my view, simply not good enough.

I get it, money trees are hard to come by. And harness racing certainly does not have one, but where there’s a will, there’s a way and we have to muster up the coin to make the Inter Dominion our richest race, because it’s the race everyone wants to win… until it’s not.

The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.