Interdominion draws

Could of nominated Ronald George.
was 10 Starters and only got 9 runners.
Draw has made it even.

Ill say it again and again.
Inter is now a Pick the best Field race.
I bet if Horses that run 4th will get a run ahead of 2nd place if the horse is a fancied horse.

Should never mess with the 3 Heats Strongest and Fittest horse wins.
Shame Death of the Inter. 3 years at Menangle. will be lucky to make 3rd year

Lloydy

Heats are an embarrassment. NZ heat is simply a farce. Simply has not worked

I think the Kiwis were dead against this version of the contest - and seem to have voted with their feet.
Mind you - Mah Sish, Four Starzzz Flash & Pure Power all came over early and are competing that way.

Lloydy - they only have the flexibility to Wildcard one horse who doesn't qualify.
The number of qualifiers per Heat will be announced before they race - I wish they'd hurry up - to total 13.
Most likely is NZ = 2, WA = 2, VIC & NSW = 3, 3 & 3 .... total 13 plus a wildcard for 14 horse field.

The format change was driven by sponsors who wanted guarantees of the best possible field I think.
If that's the way they go - the one thing they should have done is changed the name.

Harness Racing Grand Championship it might be, but ...
SADLY THIS IS NOT AN INTERDOMINION.

Reports are that The Vatican asked for the Pope's resignation due to his involvement in the Sydney Interdominion selection process.

Would it be fair to say this concept has not worked?

its got nothing to do with how the series is programmed - maximum 2 heats would create competitive racing, there is not enough talent around... mark purdon nominated something like 5 horses, has 0 runners - thats just how racing is

my final field: TTL, ITMQ, SU, BOB, CB, MahS, SirL, GoldA, JC

Craig hit it right on the head.

Its a Shame as i loved travelling all over the place including NZ
Even went Tassie Inter 2x
Wont go Menangle Inter.
Still will Bet on it.

Ok now ill ask Questions. Has Mah Sish already Qualified due to winning Hunter Cup?
Has IMQ quilified because it won last year?
Has TTL qualified as it won the NZ Cup?
Has Restrepo and Metro Mike Qualified for next year based on Ability?
Will Blacks a Fake make a Comeback next year and get Auto Entry?
Will Village kid be Driving Lanercost in the Final?

What only 3 runners in NZ heat?
Will all 3 Qualify?

2 from the NZ heat qualify Lloydy, but depending on what runs third they may get the wildcard as well and all would get through!

Most of these conditions ARE in the literature - but also some of the fine details are TBA - like the number to Qualify from each Heat ... logically to be determined once they see who nominates.

It would have been MORE farcical if they had fixed the NZ Heat as 3 to Qualify - and then only 3 moderate performers were left nominated.

Seemingly a few of those krafty kiwis saw a loophole with the Hunter Cup passage into the weaker 2nd division Sydney Heat - and targetted that - only to drop out later on [ Auck Re, Sushi etc ].

Heat racing always has its drawbacks - as you DONT have to WIN !!  Then again, make it first home picks the barrier in the Final and the Final can also become a procession.  If you know the perfect answer to all this - POST IT NOW !?!  :-)

Lets just hope that we can get one or two cindarella stories through to the final - cause that was also part of the old InterDom magic !!

lance pretty much says in interview he wants to run 4th (sit 3 pegs) and get a wildcard... hope he is just talking it up

Dont'have to WIN !!! Thats where the sports gone very wrong in Victoria. Drivers telling stewards that this horse is better than mine and I'll give it the lead without a whimper eg Ballarat R8 16 Jan 2013. Bad luck for people having win bets when the stewards say give your horse a chance to finish in its best possible position?? I always thought 1st was the best possible position...not in Victoria..why do you want to take a 20/1 chance to the races and be told you cant keep the lead cause you're not good enough..hence there will  soon be no more punters and participants in this state

The original format was awesome, just should have been improved by giving every horse one good, one average and one bad draw across the three heats instead of being random and often unfair.

Now they're determined to eternally tinker with the format until even the people who remember when it was great stop caring.

Karloo Mick out ...... they MUST change that heat to first three automatic into final now, ridiculous for first 4 to get through.

2 wildcards, which will ensure we don't see one horse who could be competitive in the final missing out

Karloo; 3 strikes and your outtttttt

That is a DELUXE farce to leave him in until this late.

Why didn't the silly bugger just transfer him to R Morris for two weeks ??


Ridiculous.

loved the last series at Gloucester Park and grew up with the three heat series

as the sport went downhill i guess they feel the need to tinker with everything rather than being confident some things are good

NOW SMOKEN UP IS OUT TOO    !!!!!!!!

They have done the right thing changing to two wild cards

Aussie,
I hav been to over 15 Inters and love the travelling.
It was a great Series the Inter.
They have Hunter Cups and Victoria Cups, Winter Cups.
Inter should of been left how it was and not at Menangle 3 years in a Row.
Its now a Glorified FFA race and the best horses will run.

I agree completely Lloydy

“It’s a funny series, the conditions are that when you nominate you pay a fee but if you want to scratch out of it you have to pay a ridiculous fee. We actually didn’t think he’d get a run but he is forward enough to be thereabouts.”

David Aiken on Lonestar Legend tackling this lot first up.  http://www.harness.org.au/news-article.cfm?news_id=19968

Maybe use this thread for the Inter heats.  Think there are five of them but I can't figure out where the fifth is...  There doesn't seem to be a site with all the info.

Alexandra Park  8:15 AEST
Mount Gambier 8:30 (Last minute bonus heat, cause the committee felt like it)
Menangle 8:35
Melton 8:55
Menangle 9:15
Gloucester Park 9:35

Gold Ace probably doesn't deserve a wildcard on that, but every chance he will take one of them.

Winner is a freak

How could they possibly give a wildcard to a horse that came last in what will surely be the slowest heat??  Would make a mockery of the format.

Punters are loving the series so far with three out of three favourites winning:  Terror To Love, Sweet Forty Seven and Excel Stride.

Carribean Blaster looks unders though considering he has had problems and got owned by BOB in the Kilmore Cup after getting a very healthy head start on him.