This weekend is the lull before the storm as Melbourne gears up for the Festival of Racing. However, in harness racing the final ever Inter Dominion Trotting Championship series begins at Shepparton on Saturday night.

I'm looking forward to watching star Kiwi trotter I Can Doosit go around in the third of three heats at Shepparton. Trainer-driver Mark Purdon has always had the highest opinion of the horse that has won four of his six starts this season and is super fit following recent New Zealand runs. I Can Doosit flew over last Saturday with stablemates Auckland Reactor and Highview Tommy.

Australia's champion trotter, Sundon's Gift, has drawn to clash with I Can Doosit. Sundon's Gift's trainer, Chris Lang, told me the horse is almost back to his very best considering he is 10-years-old. Lang is hoping Sundon's Gift can get among the money in the opening round, saying the horse will certainly lift for the run over 2700 metres.

The Lang stable also has Aleppo Sunrise in a heat of the trotters series. While admitting Aleppo Sunrise is still learning to race tractably, he feels the horse is in the top five trotters in Australia, which explains why he is on the second line of betting in TAB Sportsbet's Fixed Odds market to take out the championship.

The Inter Dominion Pacers Championship only is a few weeks away from starting in Perth.

On Friday night, the $250,000 Fremantle Pacing Cup is on at Gloucester Park. Driver, Gary Hall Junior, said Im Themightyquinn used the bends so well to win the WA Pacing Cup last week that he intends to get off the inside of the second line as soon as possible, and into the moving line. While there were some that wanted to drop off Im Themightyquinn after his recent Victorian trip, Hall Junior hasn't, saying he's got supreme confidence in the star pacer to produce at the highest level in the weeks ahead.

Now to the thoroughbreds and New Zealand racing will be well worth watching on Saturday from Trentham. Atomic Force runs again for Newcastle trainer Darren Smith in the Telegraph Handicap. Having won the Group One Railway, Atomic Force has lost nothing on the score of fitness. Shane Treweek has been riding Atomic Force in all of his work which finished with a strong gallop on Tuesday at Te Rapa. Whatever the outcome of the Telegraph, Atomic Force will spell but the owners are yet to decide whether to travel the horse to Singapore for the Krisflyer Sprint in May or spell properly for the early Spring races in Melbourne.

The Inglis Classic Sale starts at Newmarket in Sydney on Sunday, with plenty of owners and their trainers chasing another Secret Admirer or Sincero.

At Rosehill on Saturday the Inglis Classic is the highlight race. Canberra trainer, Matthew Dale, saddles up two runners and remarkably they've drawn 13 and 14. Vavavic got pushed back at Queanbeyan last week but still ran on for a solid second. Dale says Vavavic is a bit more switched on than Single In Paris, who raced against the three-year-olds on debut at Wagga. Dale has unleashed the likes of Unanimously and Jackpot Queen in these bonus races with good success.

Diamond Earth is attempting to be the first horse to win the first three races in the Inglis Race series. Already, the filly has won the Banner in Melbourne and the Nursery in Sydney. Part-owned by Geoff Coady and his family, Diamond Earth has amassed $326,000 in prizemoney after they paid $60,000 for her at last year's sale.

Trainer Anthony Cummings says the horse is thriving and just needs a good run from barrier nine.