KEY POINTS:
Tomorrow is the day the harness racing industry has waited for.
A $1.2 million New Zealand Trotting Cup to finally give New Zealand racing some genuine respectability on the world stage.
A cup which now stands where it should, as the most important harness race in Australasia.
Sure,
without the equine influenza quarantine travel restrictions from Australia, what unfolds at Addington at 5.15pm tomorrow would be far more spectacular, but that is a hurdle Addington officials could do nothing to foresee or overcome.
But while the sun will shine on the great race, the changing face of harness racing means a cloud hangs over it.
Because racing - for better or worse - is about gambling, and for serious punters the New Zealand Trotting Cup has become a potential nightmare.
Punters face a race in which all four favourites have at least slight,and in some cases huge, concerns over how they will handle the standing start.
Of the big four, only Changeover is viewed as a good thing to step safely, and even he has galloped twice at the start of races or trials this campaign.
Second favourite Monkey King has missed away in half the standing start races in his career while his stablemate Baileys Dream has galloped in two of three starts this season.
And Auckland Cup winner Gotta Go Cullen cost punters a fortune by galloping wildly at Kaikoura last Monday, mirroring two brain explosions he had at early-season trials.
Not to mention arguably the best horse in the country, Auckland Reactor, who will miss tomorrow's race because of his poor standing start manners.
So, we have the richest harness race ever held in New Zealand and punters are playing darts in the dark.
They can research track conditions, barrier draws and sectional times. They can develop their own theories on such dark issues as drugs, team driving (or riding) or any one of the other factors they believe will affect the outcome of a race.
To many people who love racing that is the fun of the industry, the constant honing of opinions.
But try as they may, punters will never be able to truly research standing starts because they are so volatile and so messy.
What say your horse has to stand for too long and gets fractious?
Or worse, the horse alongside, or in front, does the same and takes your horse out of the race at the start.
The thing punters hate most is not getting a shout for their money. And the worst case of that is when a horse misses away, or is KO'd in a standing start.
Nobody is suggesting we should ban standing starts, especially in a race with the tradition as rich as the New Zealand Cup.
But Harness Racing New Zealand must research and develop a better, cleaner and more punter-friendly standing start system. One without starting tapes, one which allows horses to be moving forward and not standing still waiting to be startled.
That is what happens in Europe, where we, one day, hope to export our racing product. And where standing starts are so much cleaner than here.
Of course, in decades gone by when so many races of all grades were standing starts, including those for juveniles, they were not such a drama.
But now many horses - think Auckland Reactor, Changeover, Gotta Go Cullen, Monkey King - are taught to run like hell from behind mobile starts from the first time they hit a racetrack and the moment they reach open class the rules change.
In the New Zealand Cup they still have to run like hell, but only after standing as still as possible in front of 26,000 screaming fans for what can seem an eternity.
With the gap between a champion and a top horse so small, our greatest race is no longer simply a test of courage, speed, stamina and horsemanship.
It is a test of which pumped-up equine athlete can stand still the longest without losing its cool.
And your money.
