2017 TABtouch Inter Dominion First Ranking Released

The first rankings for the 2017 TABTouch Inter Dominion have been released by Racing and Wagering Western Australia’s Chief Handicapper Warren Wishart, with Lazarus from the Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen stable, harness racing’s dominant training establishment, heading up the rankings.

After winning last year’s Grand Final with Smolda, the Purdon and Rasmussen team have entered a strong contingent for this year’s renewal of the famous race. Lazarus missed the 2016 edition of the TABTouch Inter Dominion, but established himself as Australasia’s best being crowned Grand Circuit Champion and will be the one to beat in 2017. He is joined by 97 other nominations, including stablemates Have Faith In Me, Our Dream About Me and Our Waikiki Beach, in what looks like an Inter Dominion onslaught by the powerful combination.

All four of Purdon and Rasmussen’s nominations sit comfortably inside the top 30, with Our Dream About Me, Have Faith In Me and Our Waikiki Beach in positions four, nine and 16 respectively.

2015 TABTouch Inter Dominion champion Lennytheshark missed the 2016 final, but the David Aiken-trained pacer has shown he is back somewhere near his best form since last year, taking out the Miracle Mile earlier in 2017. That form has seen him installed second in the first set of rankings. Aiken’s chances of winning the time honoured series for a second time in three years were dealt a significant blow earlier this week when last year’s second placegetter Hectorjayjay had to be scratched.

The local’s look very competitive as well, making up half of the top 30, including three for Ross Olivieri, two for Skye Bond, but the home state’s best chance looks to be with the Gary Hall trained Chicago Bull, ranked third behind Lazarus and Lennytheshark. Chicago Bull won the Fremantle and WA Pacing Cups earlier this year, and will be looking to build on a formidable open class record around his home track at Gloucester Park.

Ohoka Punter, Beaudiene Boaz and Run Oneover complete the Hall-trained quartet inside the top 30, and the leading Perth trainer said Chicago Bull’s presence gave him a lot more confidence heading into this year’s series.

“I’m pretty happy with the whole lot of them,” Hall Sr said.

“We have a stronger team this year because we have Chicago Bull.

“Last year, we were relying on Waylade, Run Oneover, and Beaudiene Boaz who ran third in the final, but I think Chicago Bull might be a little step up on that.

“Ohoka Punter we haven’t pushed yet, but we will in the next couple of weeks, and he looks in fine fettle.

“Run Oneover won two heats last year, and I think he is in the same form this year.”

Galactic Star, who spent a year in the Greg and Skye Bond stable, rounds out the top 30, and a return to the West could be on the cards following a first-up win at Group 3 level in New South Wales earlier this month.

The competition to gain a spot in the top 30 will be fierce, as the opening night of heats on November 24 gets closer. Already there are some high profile pacers outside of the top 30 after the first rankings, including Kerryn Manning’s Mr Mojito and Emma Stewart’s Ideal For Real.

Gloucester Park Chief Executive Michael Radley said the competition for spots in the top 30 would make for a high quality series culminating in the Grand Final on December 8.

“Mr Wishart has an incredibly hard task to rank 98 horses, some will agree, others won’t, but the rankings are great part of the traditional Inter Dominion series,” Radley said.

“I believe the nominations for the 2017 TABtouch Inter are the strongest of our three-year tenure, which is on display in the rankings.

“Horses that are outside the top 30 are going to have perform well at the elite level to rise up the ranking and gain a start.”

Wishart echoed these sentiments.

“The stage is set for a great TABTouch Inter Dominion series,” Wishart said.

The TABTouch Inter Dominion series starts with the first set of heats at Gloucester Park on Friday November 24, before the series once again heads to Bunbury for the second round on Tuesday November 28. The third and final set of heats will be held at Gloucester Park on Friday December 1, before the Grand Final on Friday December 8.

Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com

Driving The Future Of Harness Racing