Gotta agree with u Rick.
I considered going to Melton for the Inter Dominion last night but there of course was only 1 ID and to me like the Qld, WA and NZ heat they were nothing more than a weekly FFA, 2-4 good horses i consider worthy of ID level and the rest stocking fillers (in my perception of the ID).
there was no magic about any heat in an ID kind of way, no excitement of seeing something spectacular, no clashes of any titans.
Sure the Menangle heats proved to be interesting and Restrepo and Keayang was exciting but thats it.
So i didn't bother going to Melton for that FFA, had some family things going on too but the 4 trotters races would have got me there before that "ID"! And i mean that sincerely as i love the trotters.
Would love to see this format change to something closer to the original.
I think the original format was good, not sure why they thought it needed such radical changing, maybe just market it and advertise it better than they had previously like they do now.
The final will be a great race with an ID feel no doubt, its just the process to get there obviously is lacking on many fronts.