What a night of racing at Moonee Valley on Saturday night! I don’t think it gets much better. The Hunter Cup was a great race and there were some solid runs looking forward to the Inter Dominion that kicks off in less than a fortnight. The Victoria Derby was won by a Kiwi but was driven by the leading reinsman in New South Wales Greg Bennett and Sundons Gift made it consecutive Inter Dominion successes when he proved too strong in the other Gr. 1 feature.

Bondy is a professional standing start competitor and after his win in the Pure Steel last week had his odds slashed from $16 to $6 for the Hunter Cup. When he drew the front line at the barrier draw on Tuesday he became one of the leading chances and was heavily backed on track on Saturday night. The training performance is an amazing one. Here is a horse that was having just his second run since finishing fifth in the Ashburton Flying Stakes in October last year. David and Catherine Butt were forced to scratch the horse from the New Zealand Cup because of a problem but they have nursed him back slowly and deserve all the wraps. Karloo Mick’s effort to run second was good. He sat on the back of Bondy throughout and his driver Greg Bennett thought he had the race won when they swung for home. Amazingly that was the ninth time the horse had placed in a gr. 1 race from only 14 starts. I guess Barry Lew must be asking himself if Karloo Mick is ever going to win one. The West Australian visitor Imthemightyquinn was fantastic in running third. He was all but last turning for home and shot through late for third. He is normally bombproof from the stand and after stepping safely, he then went roughly and as a result Gary Hall Jr was forced to drive him very defensively and drove through along the pegs. Gary Hall Sr reports that he will take the horse home on Wednesday and give him a good break before bringing him back into work for the feature races later in the year. Some people would be asking why Hall didn’t keep the horse in the east and campaign him through the Inter Dominion series but Hall has been very quick to point out that the format of the series would not suit him ideally. He isn’t a big horse and doesn’t thrive on big runs week in week out. Of the beaten brigade I thought Washakie was great. He missed the start terribly and hit the line strongly while Mr Feelgood was ok despite finishing well back. He galloped during the event and finished fairly.

Courage To Rule was driven beautifully to win the Victoria Derby. What amazed me most was the number of moves in the event. Lanercost made an early move to find the lead before Sir Lincoln drove around the field to roll to the top. Major Bronski was forced to do plenty of work two weeks in a row and while he was brave in defeat he was no match for the winner up the straight. It just makes you wonder how good Smiling Shard could be. He toyed with his kiwi rivals as a two year old and proved in the Breeders Crown that he had the measure of our two year olds. I look forward to this three year old crop going at it right throughout the season.

Chris Lang has stated repeatedly the trip to Sweden was the making of Sundons Gift. While he struggled in the elite Scandinavian company he has come back a more complete racehorse. His gatespeed has improved immensely and he led comfortably in the Inter Dominion final despite some people suggesting he would get crossed in the early stages. It was a "smart" drive too. He perceived his main danger to be Don King and as soon as he sensed him coming he accelerated to make sure he was forced to work to get to the death seat.

There is a storm brewing in New South Wales with HRNSW releasing the racing dates for next season. Both Newcastle and Penrith are upset at the proposal that was released last week. I sympathise with both clubs as they have built business plans around the historical allocation structure but I am a huge believer that the metropolitan meeting should be placed where it is most valuable to the industry. The NSWHRC will meet during the week to discuss the new dates and vote on whether they will agree to the shift and from what I can glean the vote will be very close. I think the board will vote to move in the long run but I am sure there will be a few changes to the overall proposal. In the current proposal the NSWHRC has been allocated 51 Saturday nights and I would be very surprised if feature meetings like the Newcastle Mile, Gold Crown and Treuer Memorial didn’t remain on Saturday nights. It’s all about balance and what is best for the industry and I have full confidence that the current board at HRNSW will make the right decisions. One area of the state that needed to be rewarded is the Riverina. There are a large number of horses trained in the area and they have strong racing with big fields. It is good to see that area recognised with perceived "better" dates.

The NSW Oaks will be run this Friday night at Harold Park and after looking at the qualifiers run last week it is very hard to go past Lady Euthenia. She was simply devastating on Friday, explosive at Menangle two starts ago and looks set to add to her numerous two year old group one victories in the three year old feature. Good luck to Peter Lewis and Mitchell Reese. It’s less than a fortnight to the Inter Dominion series kicking off at Harold Park and I can’t wait! Catch you next week.