What a weekend in harness racing! Does it get any better than what we saw at Menangle and Melton on Friday night? The meetings complemented one another superbly and while Melton had the "racing depth" it was truly an honour to be part of the Sky Racing coverage when the lights were switched on for the first time at the new Menangle circuit.

I said it on In The Gig on Sunday night but I don't care whether it is rugby league, rugby union, cricket or harness racing the atmosphere that lighting generates is the extra ingredient that adds to the success of an event. The lights on Friday night created an optical illusion and seemed to bring the horses closer to you and it surely is only a matter of time before a decision is made to move all of the New South Wales Harness Racing Club's meetings to the "supertrack". It was interesting to hear the CEO of the NSWHRC club, John Dumesny say that the first round of Inter Dominion heats will be the final big night at Harold Park and in future all of the features will be run at Menangle. I know there has been some opposition to the move and while it is only a small minority surely they can see the advantages of racing in the south west of Sydney on a full time basis now that the track has been fully functional for more than 18 months.

Some wanted to point out to me that the crowd was only small on Friday night but considering the attendance was somewhere in the vicinity of 4000 I think the club would have to be happy. It can be difficult to get to Menangle on a Friday night, the weather looked dicey before the meeting began and Mother Nature wasn't kind during the races with rain falling. Under the circumstances the club did a great job to attract as many as they did. Keep in mind there was live cricket and tennis action on the free to air channels and many people would have preferred to remain at home where they could have kept tabs on everything that was happening from the comfort of the lounge chair.

On the track I was very impressed with the performance of Lonestar Legend after he took out the feature event the Golden Mile. Owned by the soon to be Australia's richest man Clive Palmer, the horse came from behind to run down Cullens Legacy with Panorama Swing battling on for third spot. All three horses are hoping to be part of this month's Inter Dominion series but realistically the only possible finalist competing at Menangle on Friday night was Lonestar Legend.

Melton had plenty of exciting action with the heats of the Victorian Derby and there was some New South Wales interest with John Tapp campaigning last year's Bathurst Gold Crown winner Chariot King south of the border. As expected all of the talk since the heats has been about the Queenslanders Major Bronski, For A Reason and Lanercost and while the barrier draw will be crucial as it is for all feature races, Chariot King is perfectly placed flying under the radar. Most of his rivals would respect him but give him only a small chance of winning and with the right draw he certainly can be a big player. To me he looks like he has strengthened up during his time off and his win over 2300 metres at Menangle before he headed south was very impressive.

Major Bronski is entitled to favouritism for the race after his tough effort sitting outside For a Reason but two question marks remain for me. Firstly how much did that win take out of him? No one remembers who wins the heats and connections will be hoping he didn't spend his pennies a week early. Secondly Luke McCarthy believes there is plenty of improvement in his charge. He gave him a couple of easy runs in Queensland where he was only forced to sprint a quarter and Luke said he had been very kind to the horse keeping in mind how long the season is going to be for him. So while I have huge respect for Major Bronski, I am expecting an improved effort from For A Reason. Lanercost can't be ignored either.

The Ballarat Cup on Saturday night was won by Cincinnati Kid for trainer/driver Mark Peace. It was great reward for Peace who has continually pushed his horse around against the best for the last few seasons and up until Saturday night had come up with very little. It's fair to say that a lot of horses in that field on Saturday night would have won the race with the run he got but he still sprinted quickly when asked and was rewarded with a Grand Circuit victory.

Barry Lew celebrated a birthday on Sunday but he wasn't given an early present when Karloo Mick had second place taken off him inside the stewards room. Karloo Mick ran out in the straight hampering Mr Feelgood and on reflection the stewards didn't have too many options. Lew is now working out how to stop the horse from running out in the straight when under pressure and will consider taking a Murphy blind off Karloo Mick's inside and placing it on his outside. As I write this Lew is undecided on whether he will start in the Hunter Cup but I am nearly certain he will take his spot in the field with Karloo Mick.

The trotters Inter Dominion final will be run on Saturday night too and I think Chris Lang can work wonders with Skyvalley and turn him from disappointing into brilliant. Skyvalley only narrowly qualified after finishing fifth in his heat but after choking down Lang believes a gear change will be enough to turn the horse around. I hope he can and I will be cheering him on in the final.

It's Canberra Cup day this Sunday. Good luck to the club and I will catch you next week.