The field for Australia’s richest pacing race, The TAB Eureka, is taking shape nicely

The field for the second staging of the $2.1 million TAB Eureka at Menangle in September is taking shape nicely with just a few slots left to be filled.

Never Ending in full flight at Gloucester Park Picture: Pacepix

SOME of Australia’s most exciting pacers are desperately chasing slots in the world’s richest pacing race, the $2.1m TAB Eureka.

Effectively, seven of the 10 slots are already locked-in for the second running of the TAB Eureka at Club Menangle on September 7.

Five of the 10 slot holders have confirmed a horse and another two slots sit with Racing Queensland and Tasracing, who are running qualifying races for horses within their own states where the winner lands the slot.

Last year, star mare Encipher was the last confirmed slot runner into the race and caused a huge upset by winning the TAB Eureka for trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin, along with slot owners Aaron Bain Racing & Summit Bloodstock.

READ: Champion pacer Leap To Fame beaten as $1.04 favourite

TAB became this year’s fifth slot owner to confirm a runner when it recently nabbed co-favourite and Chariots Of Fire winner Frankie Ferocious. He trials at Albion Park on Tuesday (June 25) and will run first-up at Albion Park on Saturday week (July 6).

The first confirmed runner was boom WA four-year-old Never Ending, which will be the first WA-trained runner in the TAB Eureka. He will run in the Soho Standardbreds slot.

Goulburn then grabbed headlines when its two most exciting pacers – four-year-olds Captains Knock and Extreme Sea – landed slots through Cordina Racing and Wayne Loader respectively.

Extreme Sea is a confirmed runner for The TAB Eureka

The David Hewitt-trained Extreme Sea has set tongues wagging with his past three Menangle wins coming with an aggregate winning margin of over 76 metres.

Last year’s winning slot owners Aaron Bain Racing & Summit Bloodstock snared star Victorian four-year-old The Lost Storm.

He is the only confirmed runner backing-up from last year’s TAB Eureka, which is restricted to three and four-year-old Australian-bred pacers. The Lost Storm, which boasts 11 wins from just 18 starts, ran seventh last year.

In the latest TAB Eureka Power Rankings, five of the top 10 pacers were still without a slot in the 2300m race. They are: Petracca (sixth), For Real Life (seventh), High Above (eighth), Captain Hammerhead (ninth) and Dougs Platter (10th).

Every time they step-out now is critical.

Team Zav’s Danny and Jo Zavitsanos own Petracca and he is their logical slot runner, but the fact they holding-off making a decision adds to the intrigue. Could they go with Petracca’s stablemate and one of the real X-factors in High Above, a veteran of just four race starts?

Tasracing will award its slot to the winner of the $80,000 Beautide on August 3. Magician won the race last year and ran a terrific fourth in The TAB Eureka.

Similarly, Racing Queensland’s slot will go to the winner of the $207,000 The Hayden at Albion Park on July 20.

Frankie Ferocious has booked a place in The TAB Eureka Picture: Stuart McCormick

So, that just leaves the slots of millionaire entrepreneurs John Singleton and Kevin Seymour.

Singleton ran a race called “The Singo” a week before last year’s inaugural TAB Eureka and he chose the winner, Captain Hammerhead, for his slot. He is likely to revert to just having his team of form experts choose a horse this year.

Seymour, who had his own superstar Leap To Fame run second in his slot last year, said he was still “weighing up all options” and “in no hurry at this stage.”

Frankie Ferocious and Extreme Sea share pre-post favouritism at $3 from The Lost Storm ($7), Captains Knock, Never Ending and Petracca ($9) and High Above ($11).

* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.

THE TAB EUREKA - WHERE WE STAND

CONFIRMED RUNNERS:

Never Ending (Soho Standardbreds)

Captains Knock (Cordina Racing)

Extreme Sea (Wayne Loader)

The Lost Storm (Aaron Bain Racing & Summit Bloodstock)

Frankie Ferocious (TAB)

REMAINING SLOTS:

John Singleton

Kevin & Kay Seymour

Team Zav (Danny and Jo Zavitsanos)

Racing Queensland

Tasracing

Originally published as The field for Australia’s richest pacing race, The TAB Eureka, is taking shape nicely