![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Arcee-Phoenix-ID25-final-400x267.jpeg\")
Inter Dominion trotting champion Arcee Phoenix took his first crucial step towards a huge New Zealand raid with eye-catching Melton trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Trainer-driver Chris Svanosio said he was thrilled with the six-year-old\u2019s strong finishing second to fellow Inter Dominion finalist Parisian Artiste in the 2240m standing-start trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to get a standing trial given his main (NZ) target is the (Group 1) Dominion from\u00a0 stand,\u201d Svanosio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was his first trial since he break after the winning the Inter Dominion, so we were there as much for practice from the standing-start as we were to do anything special<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he stepped well, sat third and finished it off in really quick time behind Parisian Artiste.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d call it an ideal kick-off and I\u2019ll find another trial for him in the next week or two before we go back to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arcee Phoenix\u2019s first major target is the Group 1 Bill Collins Sprint, the trotting feature on the huge Victoria Cup meeting (October 18) where Leap To Fame and Swayzee will be the other headline acts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll need a run before that, so I\u2019ll find something around the end of the month,\u201d Svanosio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really pleased how well he seems. He didn\u2019t have that long off after the Inter Dominion, but he certainly thrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Svanosio is weighing up two options for when he heads across the ditch for what will be Arcee Phoenix\u2019s fourth trip to NZ.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe won\u2019t have a lead-up race over there, but if we went early we\u2019d have the option of running the Cup Trials at Addington six days ahead of the Dominion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the early option and one closer to the race, I\u2019ll decide once we get him back to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arcee Phoenix ran fourth behind now retired Aussie champion Just Believe in last year\u2019s Dominion as well as fourth in the Group 1 NZ Trotting Free-For-All three days later.<\/p>\n
He returned to NZ in April for the breakthrough \u201cmajor\u201d win of his career in the $NZ600,000 TAB Trot before adding the $500,000 Inter Dominion final at Albion Park on July 19.<\/p>\n
More immediately, Svanosio has four runners at Melton on Saturday night, including two in the rich Nutrien trotting finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAldebaran Ada is by far my best chance of those two,\u201d he said. \u201cShe ran a terrific race and worked home really well in her heat, while The Italian Dream will find it really hard from her draw in such a strong three-old fillies\u2019 final.\u201d<\/p>\n
Svanosio also the ultra-consistent pacer Louie Lou I in race two and talented but injury-plagued trotter Gotfeelingsyouknow in race eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cLouie Lou I ran a terrific race outside the leader in the free-for-all last week, but it\u2019ll be tough from outside the back row,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGotfeelingsyouknow is such a challenge to train with a lot of niggles, but the first run back from a let-up was good when he needed the run and he\u2019s sure to improve again from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
* Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.<\/p>\n
PHOTOS:<\/p>\n
Dan Costello<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inter Dominion trotting champion Arcee Phoenix took his first crucial step towards a huge New Zealand raid with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-126753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}