Kingman (Always B Miki) capped off the most astonishing five weeks when he cruised to victory in the $NZ125,000 Group 1 Christian Cullen at Addington last night (Friday).
It came just ten days after he scored one of the biggest wins in the history of the iconic $NZ1 million NZ Cup at the same track.
Flash back to October 18 when Kingman blasted Leap To Fame to win the $250,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup.
If you go back another two weeks, that’s when it all really started when he comfortably took down two-time NZ Cup winner Swayzee at Menangle.
“Now he’s going home,” said trainer-driver Luke McCarthy. “He’s having a great time here and has done a fantastic job.
“When we got here we decided we weren’t going to do Brisbane very well, so it’s back to Sydney for a freshen up and then we’ll go to Melbourne.”
McCarthy said the plan was to play the $75,000 Group 2 Bendigo Cup on January 10, the first of six legs in the Summer of Glory.
“We’ll go to the first two (stages) and work out the rest from there,” he said.
The second leg is the $50,000 Group 3 Shepparton Gold Cup on January 17.
Although McCarthy has always liked Kingman, he admits he is impressed with the development he has made in the past two months.
“It’s all happening fast, but he’s still learning, as you’ve seen here (Addington),” he said.
“Once he found the front (last night), he always felt in control. I gave him the time as easy as possible.”
Kingman won by four meters in a blistering mile pace of 1 minute 55.6 seconds during the long 2600 meter ride.
Kingman was the only Australian winner on last night’s stellar Addington Group 1 night, with young Victorian trotters Tracy The Jet and Gatesys Gem having to settle for minor placings.
After taking an early lead, Tracy The Jet looked the winner on the home run in the Group 1 NZ Trotting Oaks, but could not hold off a strong late finish along the Dash Dosh sprint track for trainer Tom Bagrie and driver Blair Orange.
That said, Dash Dosh won by a whopping 12 lengths from Request in third place.
Glenn Hunter’s Gatesys Gem followed up her second to Tracy The Jet in last week’s The Ascent with a fighting third in last night’s Group 1 NZ Trotting Derby.
Like Kingman, Tracy The Jet and Gatesys Gem will return home in the coming days.
Leap To Fame arrived home late this week and will likely bypass next Saturday night’s $75,000 Group 2 Sunshine Sprint and jump straight into their title defense in the $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake a week later.
Through Adam Hamilton for Harness Racing Australia
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