sees a lot of the others come out but you're quite happy to punch pegs? Amanda Turnbull springs to mind as another who loves to punch up on the pegs at Menangle.

Yeah, look, I don't, you know, a lot of it's got to do with tempo related and everything that happens turning for home probably sets up in the first 500 metres more than it does, you know, when you see the end product turning for home.

So, look, it's one of them things, it's, you know, you've got split seconds to make these decisions and I'm definitely not sitting here saying that I get them wrong.

There's definite times that I get myself in trouble going back to the fence more often, you know, too.

So, you know, it is a risk doing it and you've always got that um you know thought the back of your mind that the runs don't come but i've just found with the more i race at menengal if the run doesn't come at the start of the straight it's definitely going to come at some stage because the straights are so long horses wobble and and when they get tired late in the miles that's when the runs start to appear so look we've got a lot of you know we've got a great driver's room in sydney and there's a lot of super drivers so you know i put it down to And, you know, sometimes it's the horses I'm driving need them runs and just lucky enough that they come every now and again.

So, you know, it's just one of them things.

But my observations are he seems to like, and obviously it is, as you say, tempo related, but the slightly longer trip than the mile seems to be in his wheelhouse.

Oh, definitely.

So what's going through your mind? Is it more to do with the horses that are in front of you on the pegs where you've got Palladium and you've also got Lexus Lou, or is it more you're thinking, I want to keep my horse coiled up and safe for that one dash at them?

Probably it all sort of starts from when the gate goes, to be honest.

I was When I looked at that race throughout the week, it was a really tricky race to get a map on because obviously Lexus Lou kicked the wheels last week on Cam and got super fierce.

I did half think that they'd probably want a helmet if they could take a helmet just to try and get him to settle and get the distance.

But there was also that risk that they might not have been able to get him to settle.

I didn't really want to get in that involvement.

So sort of when I looked at the race on paper, there was two options for me.

Were you looking for that or how did that all come about?

Tell me a little bit about what the project has entailed in Cynthiana, Kentucky.

Okay.

I, I'll tell you how I first got, uh, to re- really know it.

Um, I, uh, was invited to join our Kiwanis Club, and one of the first things that I did was a job fair at the high school.

We had a table set up, Kiwanis logo, everything.

Kids walking around, you know, giving them candy, pens, different things.

And this one young man came up, he said, "What is Kiwanis?" And being fairly new myself, I started to explain something, and then another gentleman added in, he said, um, "Do you know what BUG, the BUG Program is?" He goes, "Oh, yeah, I remember that." Now these are high school students we were talking to, but in, in, uh, elementary school, fourth and fifth graders is where our program works out.

Mm-hmm.

Was that just one of those nights where a fraction more luck and he wins the race?

Yeah, look, I sort of kicked myself talking to Archie the whole way home on the Sunday.

It was just one of them races where just the gaps didn't come our way.

You can... you can try and polish it and turn it 18 different ways.

But I think sort of by the time I got to Coffs Harbour, I'd come to the conclusion that I didn't really, I couldn't go left.

Cam went right down into the sprint lane pretty hard and I wasn't that strong.

I wouldn't have been able to get him down and in there without sort of climbing over the top of Cam's wheel.

How is it?

Does that give an opportunity for some sort of feature race, uh, some feature race participation and potentially success for those horses who maybe weren't quite as well fancied by the handicappers just to get in and show us what, uh, you know, what's what?

I think it's always a, um, you know, a great opportunity for any horses like that to, you know...

And obviously Inter Dominion, it's a different beast in its own right because it's one thing to race, you know, obviously Leap To Fame and then nine times out of a hundred out of a hundred if you score up in, in one race, you're not beating them.

But in an Inter Dominion there's obviously several heats and then you might miss a Leap To Fame or you might miss The Janitor in a heat and get a bit lucky with a draw and you might win your way in that way or run a couple of placings and then obviously these horses have got to race three times in, in quick consecutive weeks, um, and race pretty hard.

So then it sort of becomes a, a trainer and a driver's job to come to the fore as well, and I think that's probably what makes the Inter Dominion.

I've got to say I was more of a fan of the three heats and a final, um, because I really think that was a trainer's job to, to manage their horse through.

Um, obviously one less heat probably makes it a little easier, but I think in all, I think that's what makes the Inter Dominion such a great race, and it gives them horses that might not have that star quality, but they might just be able to back up a little better.

Robbie?

How did you assess the performance?

I was right with him.

I was just a little bit disappointed.

He didn't step, just stepped awkwardly.

He stepped okay, but just stepped awkwardly.

And I just got a few of the wrong ones in front of me and, probably put us, you know, our race was over then, but if he could have stepped and been in the first three, not taking anything away from anyone else, but I'd probably think he wins.

The ground he made up to run fourth, he was really good.

Has Kanina Provlima done enough to make the top 36?