Baltic Ice, pictured winning on Hunter Cup Day, is engaged in the Watpac ID08 heats this weekend
Mooroopna hobby trainer Glenn Freeman can't imagine what it would feel like to win an Inter Dominion final.
The 38-year-old gym operator is excited enough that one of the three horses he trains in Victoria's Goulburn Valley has been good enough to secure a place in the heats in Australasian premier harness racing event, which commences this Saturday night at Geelong.
"For a trainer like me, this is the sort of stuff you dream off," Freeman said.
"You sit around thinking that one day it would be great to have a horse good enough to run in an Inter Dominion, so to get there with one is fantastic."
The bonus for Freeman is that Baltic Ice is anything but making up the numbers in Watpac ID08 and a spot in the semi finals at Moonee Valley on February 23 is not out of the question after drawing nicely in barrier four in Saturday night's third heat (9pm).
A top-four finish this weekend would guarantee Baltic Ice a place in the semis, but the two fastest fifth placegetters from the four heats will also progress. The first five home in both semis will then claim a spot in the $750,000 pacing final, also at the Valley, on Saturday, March 1.
A repeat of his last-start performance, when a 1:57.8 winner under the urgings of star driver Chris Alford at Moonee Valley on Hankook Tyres Hunter Cup Day, would almost be enough to seal a semi-final berth for Baltic Ice.
"It was good to have a good draw and a good sit that day and he did run home his last half (800m) in 55.6 (seconds)," Freeman said.
"That was the first time Chris drove him and he said that while they went 27.7 (seconds) down the back straight, he thought he was doing a 30 (seconds) quarter. He said he just jogged along, so he is going well."
But however deep Baltic Ice goes into Watpac ID08, Freeman is confident the five-year-old will be better equipped to be major player at future Inter Dominions.
"This year I thought we'd just put him in and just see what happens," he said of the gelding, who has won 15 of his 44 starts.
"It'd be good for him to qualify this year, but I'm not holding my breath. I keep thinking next year or the year after that will be his best chance because he's only had 40-something starts and I've just poked around with him.
"Blacks A Fake and all the best horses, he's not up to them yet, but in two years time they'll all probably be retired and then the next lot of horses have got to come through. Hopefully he can keep improving and be one of that next lot."
