And the Inter Dominion became one step closer following King Of Swing's easy victory in the first heat of the gruelling series for former Bathurst driver Luke McCarthy.

Given the easiest passage that McCarthy could have hoped for, King Of Swing cruised to an easy win over the Jason Grimson-trained pair of Majestic Cruiser and Boncel Benjamin with Arden Messi, who was first emergency for the series, grabbing fourth place.

"That was just great," McCarthy said following King Of Swing's success.

"We didn't need to work too hard to find the lead and we got away with a fairly easy middle half, which really helped.

"He has had a tendency to switch off in his races a bit so I wanted to keep his mind on the job in the straight.

"King Of Swing is a funny horse like that, if another horse runs up to him you can feel him quicken up.

"But that was a nice hit-out and just what we needed."

McCarthy explained that King Of Swing would see little of the track in between now and the two remaining heats.

"It will just be a bit of swimming and the water walker to keep him fit; we'll keep him off the track," he said.

"All we need now is a few good draws and a bit of luck and we should be there when it matters."

King Of Swing ran the fastest mile rate across the three Saturday heats with a 1:53.9 over the mile and a half journey.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: