THE final round or preliminaries of the Inter Dominion at Gloucester Park in Perth on Friday night kicked off a massive weekend of Australian racing that encompasses the three racing codes.

As it has been with the first two rounds of the Inter Dominion the usual suspects came to the fore with Smoken Up, Auckland Reactor and Im Themightyquinn remaining unbeaten after again outclassing their rivals.

And edging back into contention for the series was the USA bred star Mr Feelgood who returned to his best to score his first win for the series.

Now that the final field has been decided the next important round of the series will be the barrier draw to be conducted at an Inter Dominion function on Sunday then after that in pinching a line from USA boxing ring announcer  Michael Buffer “Lets get ready to rumble.”

Who draws where will play a major role in the betting for the Inter final but before then TAB Sportsbet have local champ Im Themightyquinn favourite at $2.10.

He was super impressive on Friday night striding to the front going down the back straight and coasting away to win by 19 metres.

Smoken Up remains second elect at $3.20 after he again delivered a gutsy performance to score a fairly narrow win in his heat.

As he has done throughout his career Smoken Up worked hard and kicked back strongly when tackled rounding the home turn.

On ability he is the one to beat but like he did when losing in the Ballarat Cup earlier this month he has been struggling around the fairly flat Gloucester Park turns.

His class and heart have enabled him to kick back and win his three heats but the final will see him facing a much tougher field.

Auckland Reactor had to work hard early before finding the lead in his heat but from there he was never challenged and went to the line under a strong hold when winning by four metres.

He is the third elect for the final at $4.80 with Mr Feelgood at $7.00 the only other runner under double figures.

Those odds could change dramatically depending on the draw and another strong factor in the final could be some of the “cowboy” tactics of a couple of the other local drivers in the final.

Interesting is one word that could be used to describe some of the drivers on longshots during the series so far where some drives would seem not to have presented their horses with the chance to obtain their best possible position.

TAB SPORTSBET MARKET FOR THE INTER DOMINION

Gloucester Park, March 2. Before the barrier draw

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ON the thoroughbred side of the ledger there are three Group 1s up for decision at Caulfield today.

2011 Cox Plate winner Pinker Pinker returns to the track in the fifth race the WFA Futurity Stakes.

Her win at Moonee Valley was mainly due to one of the great big-race rides of all-time by Craig Williams but from the pole draw today she is likely to get buried back in the field and she may need another clever ride by Williams if she is to succeed.

Three scratchings has reduced the field to only eight starters which should help her cause.

Top class Kiwi galloper King Mufhasa has a solid record over the 1400 metres and he looks the one to beat.

Star 3YO colt Sepoy is looking to go out of Australia on as winning note in the Oakleigh Plate, race six.

With 10 wins from 11 starts to his credit he certainly has the form on the board but his huge weight of 58kg against the 54kg of boom speedster Bel Sprinter makes him vulnerable.

Highlight of the day at Caulfield is the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes which on paper looks a benefit for star filly Samaready.

Jockey Craig Newitt has declared her as the best 2YO he has ridden and is confident she can give him his first success in the 2YO classic.

One person who knows how to win a Blue Diamond is jockey Dwayne Dunn who with ex top jock Roy Higgins holds the record of four wins in the event.

He is looking to claim a fifth win on the David Hayes trained Mama’s Choice who was an impressive winner at her only outing at Caulfield on February 12.

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THE woofas round off a great days racing with heats of the Australian Cup at The Meadows although the meeting has been robbed of a lot of interest with the scratching of super stayer Miata from the heats of the Stayers Cup.

2011 Victorian Greyhound of the Year Dyna Tron is looking to add another big race to his resume.

He was a super success last year winning the Melbourne Cup, the Geelong Cup and the Hobart Thousand.

He loves a wide draw and from box seven in the fifth heat of the Cup, race seven, he should have no trouble in qualifying for the final.

IT would be fair to say that on paper Samaready looks a good thing in Saturday’s Blue Diamond but there some facts and figures that suggest the hot favourite won’t have it all her own way.

After two brilliant wins from as many starts Samaready has remained at short odds since the field was declared on Tuesday although she has drifted slightly from an opening quote of $2.10 to $2.20 with Sportingbet.

But being public elect isn’t such a hot thing with only three favourites saluting since 1994, those being Sepoy last year at $1.40; Alinghi at $2.15 in 2004 and Bel Esprit at $2.00 in 2002.

Samaready also has the curse of the female line where the fillies have barely better than a 1 in 3 strike rate in the race with 15 wins against the boys with 41.

Fillies winning only three of the last 13.

Just the same you must remember that Samaready won’t be reading the formguide or  checking the past results and she will take a whole lot of beating.

She is now the only runner at singlefigure odds with second elect The Travelling Man easing slightly from his opening quote of $9.00 to $10.00.

The only one to shorten slightly in the betting has been the Mat Ellerton & Simon Zahra trained Formidable who chased Samaready home in the Blue Diamond Prelude and she has come in from $17.00 to $15.00.

Being runner-up last start the facts are also against Formidable as 22 of the past 30 winners have come off last start wins, including 12 from the Blue Diamond Preludes.

Top jockey Kerrin McEvoy who finished second in the Blue Diamond C&G Prelude on Rusambo has elected to ride Applegate ($21.00) while Mark Zahra will steer Rusambo ($26.00).

2012 BLUE DIAMOND STAKES – 1200 metres 4.30pm

Create your Sportingbet account now and get on the big race this weekend.

SPORTINGBET

THANK goodness Black Caviar isn’t racing at Caulfield on Saturday.

If she was lining up for her 20^th consecutive win it would have taken some of the gloss of a high quality Sportingbet Oakleigh Plate.

A full field of 18 have accepted for the 1100 metre dash and you can make a strong case for a lot of them.

Heading the weights and the markets is star three-year-old Sepoy ($2.70 fav.) who has lost only once in his twelve runs to date with five wins from as many starts at Caulfield, including three from three over the 1100 metres.

Of course the best of them was when he blew his rivals away in the 2011 Blue Diamond Stakes before going on to win the Golden Slipper.

Barrier 11 is the widest he has yet drawn in a race but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern as he has the early pace to snare a handy position.

What might test the resolve of Sepoy and punters is the hefty 58kg he has been lumbered with.

Three-year-olds have claimed three of the last six Oakleigh Plates but none of them carried close to the burden that Sepoy has been given, even allowing for the recent lift of minimum weights by 1kg.

When Starspangledbanner won in 2010 he carried only 52kg and it should also be noted that five of the 13 starters that year were three-year-olds with four of them missing a place.

Weekend Hussler carried 53kg. when he won in 2008 and we all know what a superstar he turned out to be while Snitzel won in 2006 with 51.5kg.

Allowing for the recent 1kg weight rise only two horses in the last 40 years have successfully carried the weight Sepoy will carry.

Undue won as a five-year-old with 57kg in 2007 and Fastnet Rock was a three-year-old when he carried that same weight in 2005.

Rated high among the chances is the lightly raced flying machine Bel Sprinter ($3.20), a winner at five of his only six starts including his only two at Caulfield.

He resumed from five months off with an extra-ordinary win at Caulfield on February 4, when he got a long way further back than usual and flashed home to win in great style against Listed company.

He has been kept fresh for this race where he gets 4kg off Sepoy in the weights and he has drawn nicely in barrier five.

Add to the mix Eagle Falls ($21.00), a last start Group 2 Rubiton Stakes winner over this course, along with West Australian star Grand Nirvana ($41.00) and a handful of other smart ones and the Oakleigh Plate looks certain to be a hotly contested event.

Race 6 Sportingbet Oakleigh Plate – 1100 metres 3.50pm.

FOR the second week in a row a Group 2 race looks likely to steal the thunder from the headline event at Caulfield.

Last week it Group 2 Schillaci Stakes which had champion mare Black Caviar shooting for, and getting, her 14^th win from as many starts that overshadowed three Group1 races.

This time it is star 3YO colt Sepoy contesting the Group 2 Caulfield Sprint that is taking some of the gloss of what could be described as a moderate Caulfield Cup.

With little local history behind most of the nine foreign horses in the Cup, the public are more likely to take an interest in Sepoy who is considered the only possible contender for Black Caviar should they clash this Spring.

A winner at eight of his nine starts Sepoy is rated a long odds on favourite at $1.35 with Tabsportsbet to notch up another victory.

All othe starters in the race are at double figure odds headed at $11.00 by Buffering who challenged Sepoy for the lead when they clashed last start in the Group 1 anikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley, but was burnt off as Sepoy careered away in the straight to win easily.

According to trainer Paul Snowden Sepoy had trained on from the Manikato and "continued to tick all the boxes".
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For the Cup itself December Draw remains as the public elect although he has eased slightly from $2.40 to $2.50.

The only other runner under double figures is the Hong Kong stayer Mighty High at $9.50.

Former German stayer Lucas Cranach ($11.00) has passed a fitness test this morning and take his place in the field.

Bart Cummings has made multiple gear changes to capable stayer Precedence in an effort to gain a eighth Caulfield Cup.

Precedence ($31) who has blinkers off again and had a norton bit replaced by a lugging bit has been unimpressive at his three starts back from a spell but Cummings has a knack of getting them right on the day.

He won his first Caulfield Cup in 1966 with Galilee and followed with Big Philou (1969), Leilani (1974), Ming Dynasty (1977 & 1980), Let’s Elope (1991) and Viewed (2009).

Super colt Sepoy stunned track watchers at Cranbourne this morning with a trial win that even surprised his trainer Peter Snowden.

Allowed to stride by jockey Kerrin McEvoy, but never really extended, Sepoy coasted to an easy win in the first of 10 trials over 800 metres on the Cranbourne training track.

“I didn’t think he was going that fast,” Snowden said after the colt cracked 45 seconds for the short gallop.
McEvoy, who has ridden Sepoy in his last five race starts, made a special trip down from Sydney for the trial. It was the only open trial for the day but Sepoy’s time of 44.90s was over two seconds faster than the next best time. A blockbuster trial clash was averted when champion mare Black Caviar gave the trial a miss.

This gallop was a tune up run for Sepoy as he heads to the Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night, September 30.
Voted the Australian Two-Year-Old of the year on Sunday night, Sepoy has won seven of his only eight outings including the big two-year-old double of the Blue Diamond and the Golden Slipper and he has already earned $3,134,500 in stakes.

His only defeat was a surprise second to Smart Missile in the Todman Stakes at Rosehill in March.