What a fantastic boost to harness racing slot races have been.

As we build towards another huge slot race, the $1.25mil Group 1 Nullarbor at Gloucester Park on Friday week, it is an ideal time to reflect on the huge impact of them in just a few years.

By their nature, slot races create a narrative and spark so much talk, which the game so desperately needs.

And they ooze star power.

More importantly than anything else in this climate, they have been responsible for really igniting the vitally important Trans-Tasman rivalry.

Being trackside at Cambridge to see the appreciation for Aussie champ Leap To Fame simply being in NZ, let alone turning on a career-best display, was something special.

While there has and always will be a spirited rivalry between Aussies and Kiwis, our friends across the ditch have deep respect and appreciation for a good horse.

We saw a year earlier with champion trotter Just Believe at the same Cambridge meeting in the TAB Trot.

It mattered little to the Kiwis that Just Believe led home Victorian dominance with the first four placegetters.

Moreover, they got to see a sublime performance from a champion trotter.

Just Believe returned to NZ last November for what was to his swansong in the Dominion Trot in Christchurch.

Joining on that trip was the trotter many think (and most hope) could be Just Believe’s heir apparent, Keayang Zahara.

The only reason Keayang Zahara crossed the ditch was because of a slot race … the inaugural $NZ500,000 The Ascent.

Sure, she also won the Group 1 double in the NZ Oaks and Derby during the raid, but it was the lure of the big purse in The Ascent which convinced the Lee/Craven clan to take her across.

That trip has stirred the interest of all of Australasia to see how Keayang Zahara takes the step into the open-class big league when she returns to the track.

Go back to the middle of last year and the inaugural Protostar (2YO slot race) gained plenty of traction and delivered a fantastic race in blistering time.

The jostle is already on for slots in the second running on July 19 at Albion Park.

While Albion Park was already home to slot races of a very different type with the Ultimate Driver Challenge in February.

It couldn’t have been a bigger success on all levels, including wagering turnover and global interest.

The potential for the series is untapped.

But let’s get back to the Nullarbor.

In the golden days of the game, the biggest and brightest eastern states stars would regularly head to Perth to chase the WA Pacing Cup.

Times changed and the race, sadly, morphed more into a mega final for WA’s best pacers.

But the Nullarbor has changed it all.

Two Nullarbor’s down and two interstate winners.

And the great Swayzee will be favourite to make that three-from-three on Friday week.

Last year’s winner Catch A Wave rekindled memories of the great days when he went from Victoria to win the Nullarbor/Fremantle Cup double last year.

He’s back, joining Swayzee, as a formidable eastern states one-two act this year.

 

Photo: PacePix