Two of the stars of the Melbourne Inter Dominion are out of the series after just one round of heats.

Shadow Sax, one of the biggest home state hopes, and one-time favourite Let It Ride were both scratched on Monday.

Shadow Sax’s scratching was expected after he was found to be lame following his run in the opening round of heats at Melton on Saturday night.

But it was the scratching of trainer Tim Butt’s Let It Ride, along with stablemate Italian Delight, came as a shock. and in surprising circumstances.

In a statement, Harness Racing Victoria stewards revealed “the scratchings relate to Mr Butt disclosing that an injection had been administered to Let It Ride and Italian Delight today (Monday), within one clear day of the race, for the purposes of extracting blood for analysis.”

Butt took full responsibility but didn’t like the wording “administered” in the release.

“All I did was get bloods taken from them to make sure they were OK to race tomorrow night, but I got the timing wrong. Nothing was administered to them,” Butt said.

“I couldn’t get the bloods taken yesterday being a Sunday, so I had it done this morning, forgetting the deadline was midnight the day before they race.

“It’s disappointing and my fault, but I’m philosophical and just have to move on and work out what’s next for them, especially Let It Ride.”

The logical option is a free-for-all on Inter Dominion final night then options including returning to race at Menangle, going through Victoria’s country cups towards the Hunter Cup or possibly the Perth features next month.

“Perth’s a chance because I’m considering it with My Field Marshal,” he said.

“Then again, the style of racing may not suit Let It Ride as much over there. I’ve got options anyway.”

Let It Ride, a one-time favourite for the Inter Dominion final, is the second big name scratching since the opening round heats.

Shadow Sax’s co-trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin tweeted about his scratching on Monday morning.

“It’s with heavy hearts we have had to scratch our #ID18 hope Shadow Sax. He will have more X-rays and scans today to give us more of an insight as what the final diagnosis is,” co-trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin tweeted.

The Inter Dominion moves to night two at Ballarat on Tuesday night with another three pacing and two trotting heats.

Punters have pounced on the favourites in the first two pacing heats with Wrappers Delight (race six) in from $1.80 to $1.60 with TAB and Im Pats Delight $1.75 into $1.50.

The third heat also has a short-priced favourite in impressive night one winner Cruz Bromac, but he has eased from $1.35 to $1.45 from a tricky draw (gate 11) over the 1710m sprint distance.

Mach Doro ($14 into $6.50) and Audi Hare ($12 into $6.50) have been best-backed to upset Cruz Bromac.

The best race looks to be the clash between star trotters Tornado Valley and Speeding Spur, who both impressively won on opening night and dominate betting for the final.

Speeding Spur has the better draw in gate five is a $1.75 favourite, but Tornado Valley has already been backed from $2.80 into $2.30 with TAB.

Sky Racing 2 has special showcase coverage of the Ballarat meeting and is free access for the day.

Coverage starts with an extended edition of In The Gig from 5-6pm then rolls into racenight coverage until 10.30pm.