Key changes made to IDs format

By Adam Hamilton 

New Zealand interest and participation in the Inter Dominions is set to soar when it returns to Brisbane in July.

The much more suitable new timeslot, huge prize money boosts and a “friendlier” format are all sure to be attractive to Kiwi trainers and owners.

Racing Queensland today (Tuesday) announced the Pacing Championship division will carry a $1 million final, double what the finalists ran for in Sydney last year.

The Trotting Championship final will soar from $150,000 last year to $500,000, making it by far the richest trotting feature in Australia.

The move from a December to July timeslot as part of the growing Queensland Constellations has been well received, with trainers insisting it will ensure broader participation than the awkward December timeslot of recent years.

“What a great move,” top NZ trainer Cran Dalgety said, “the Inter Dominion is something we all want to be part of, but December made it hard for a lot of us because of the glut of feature races here (NZ) and in Australia.

“This will now become a destination event. Some of the great Inter Dominions in the modern era have been in Queensland and I’m sure the next few years will add to that.”

Importantly, the Inter Dominion rotating cycle has changed and Brisbane’s Albion Park will host the event for the next three years.

The first of them comes at a mouth-watering time this year with so many stars, especially in the pacing ranks, like Leap To Fame, Swayzee and Don Hugo.

Another key change this year will be the reduction of the number of rounds of qualifying heats – two rounds instead of three – to make the series slightly less demanding and cater for the changing breed of harness horses.

The 36 pacers and 24 trotters will tackle the first round of heats on July 5, race again on July 12 and then the finalists will lock horns on July 19.

In a fascinating move, Racing Queensland also revealed the winner of the $350,000 Group 1 Rising Sun on July 5 – a feature restricted to three and four-year-old pacers – would gain a golden ticket into the $1 million pacing final.

The proviso is the winner must be a four-year-old and will need to race twice before the final like all qualifiers, meaning they also need to contest the Kevin Thomas 4YO race at Albion Park on July 12.

Interestingly, the past two Inter Dominion winners have come through the Rising Sun as four-year-olds, Leap To Fame won the 2023 Rising Sun and Don Hugo ran second last year.

In another twist to tradition, there will be a change to the Inter Dominion points system to qualify for the final, which will now include three possible bonus point options in each heat.

Two bonus points will go to the horse with the fastest individual last 800m, one point for the fastest last 400m and one point for the quickest last mile (1609m).