KEY POINTS:
Ever wanted to own an Interdominion favourite?
You can at Alexandra Park tonight, but you might be a couple of years too late.
One-time trotting superstar Genius, who was the favourite for the Interdominions two years ago, will become one of New Zealand's best-performed claiming horses when he contests the feature trot at Auckland's final harness racing meeting of the season tonight.
The speedy veteran will carry a $20,000 claiming price tag on his head, which basically means it you want him you turn up to Alexandra Park with a $20,000 cheque and he is yours.
No arguments, no negotiations, you pay the money, you take Genius home.
Claiming races are enormously popular in North America where they are seen not only as a way of handicapping horses into the right grade but also selling horses who may have had their time with a certain owner or trainer.
They have been successful in Australia but far less so here, usually because claiming races are restricted to horses with small claiming prices so only attract low-calibre horses.
The ATC is moving to correct that by providing handicapping relief for horses like Genius and tonight's race rival Cornishman, who receive at least a 20m advantage in the handicaps under claiming conditions.
If claiming races becomes more popular in New Zealand it will free up a sales market which suffers from too many owners having opinions of their horses over-inflated by emotion.
And for trainer Michelle Wallis, the claiming system provides much-needed relief for Genius.
"He has been racing these horses off 50 and 40m and he simply can't get close enough to win," said Wallis.
"But off 20m this week he should be very tough to beat. He may not be the horse he was three years ago but he has still got a motor."
Genius has the ability to trot 3:30 for the 2700m tonight and with Tony Herlihy in the sulky, looks the horse to beat even though the field contains smart intermediate-grade trotters.
Regardless of how he fares, Wallis should end the best season of her career with at least one, and more likely two, more wins.
She will produce Retail Therapy in tonight's main pace and the comeback pacer will only need to perform as well as he did in the corresponding race last week to win again.
"He's a big horse getting better with racing so he looks the one to beat this week even from the bad draw," she said.
"And Ripped Pocket will be hard to beat in the last. He's a nice horse on the way up."
Wallis has nearly doubled her previous career best seasonal tally - She had won 56 races going into last night's Cambridge meeting, compared with 31 last season.
And she is hoping next season can be even better, with at least 15 rising 2-year-olds on her books.
GENIUS MOVE
* One-time trotting star Genius will race as a claimer at Alexandra Park tonight.
* That means anybody can buy him for $20,000 just by lodging a claiming form at the track.
* He will get some handicapping relief in the main trot.
* His trainer Michelle Wallis is looking to cap a stunning season.
