A young man and his horse, tonight, together take the biggest step of their careers.
Devendra will compete on the opening night of the greatest harness racing Series in the Southern hemisphere, the $1.1 million dollar Inter-Dominion in Western Australia.
Devendra has been there before, in 2015 he performed magnificently winning two heats of the Series at Gloucester Park before coming undone in the final.
With the experience of his dual Inter-Dominion success as trainer-driver of the brilliant Beautide, James Rattray was in charge of Devendra's previous campaign.
Two years on and the great 'Tassie hope' is back, the eight-year-old takes on the best pacers in the land, this time around with his trainer and regular driver Todd Rattray taking the reins.
To the majority of the general public Todd has long lived in the shadow of brothers James and Gareth, but since taking over operations of the Rattray Family stables he has truly arrived as star in his own right.
Todd, the winner of the 2016/17 Tasmanian Driving premiership and leader again this season has completed his apprenticeship in the state's most successful stable of the past 20 years and is now battle-hardened for the enormous challenge ahead.
The likes of champion Lazarus and Lennytheshark await the Tasmanian duo along with West Australian stars Chicago Bull and Soho Tribeca.
Lazarus is the favourite for the Series, the champion has won his last eight starts, blitzing a class field in the New Zealand Cup in runaway style in the lead-up to the Championship and will clash with Devendra in heat one.
Lennytheshark, the 2015 Inter champ at Gloucester Park has since added the Miracle Mile and Victoria Cup to its list of feature wins.
Chicago Bull is the reigning Fremantle and West Australian Pacing Cup winner while Soho Tribeca was placed in the Cups and turned the tables on Chicago Bull in the $200,000 Golden Nugget.
In Heat One tonight at 22.04 (Tasmanian time) Devendra ($19) has drawn the pole, Soho Tribeca ($1.85) is alongside in two while the Mark Purdon superstar Lazarus ($2.25) has drawn the car park in nine.
