Kingman’s plan to collect Victoria’s new $1 million bonus has been hatched.
Trainer Luke McCarthy confirmed Australia’s most exciting pacer would launch his harness racing attack on the six-race Victorian Cups circuit in the first of these, the $75,000 Group 2 Bendigo Cup (1609m) on January 10.
Kingman, who burst into the big league with victories in the Victoria and NZ Cups, is determined to tackle the first three legs of the six-race series, which carries a $1 million bonus for any pacer who can win four legs, including the $250,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup on February 14.
“Mick (Harvey) and they are going for it (the bonus) right from the start,” McCarthy said. “We’ll have him ready to go for Bendigo and back up at Shepparton the following week and then Ballarat (January 24).
“We are happy to bring him to Bendigo without a lead-in race. He is an easy horse to train so he doesn’t need one.
“He had an easy few weeks after coming home from New Zealand, but he is working quickly again and I can get him on the right track with some strong training at Menangle.
“Think back to the NZ Cup, he went into that without any points since winning the Victoria Cup, which was three and a half weeks before that.”
Kingman has been a revelation since joining McCarthy’s stable, with nine starts and seven wins and a second.
His feat of going three wide without cover to surpass the great Leap To Fame in the NZ Cup is widely regarded as one of the greatest victories in the history of the iconic race.
KINGMAN AND LUKE MCCARTHY NZ CUP REPEAT
Confirmation that Kingman will race in Bendigo confirms a fairytale start to Harness Racing Victoria’s revamped Summer of Glory with crazy trotting mare Keayang Zahara set to race in the $100,000 Group 1 Maori Mile on the same evening.
McCarthy said discussions with owner Tony Licastro over the past fortnight would decide whether last Saturday’s Group 1 Blacks A Fake winner Don Hugo would tackle one of the Cups in Victoria.
“He’s racing this week,” he said. “Tony is sponsoring the meeting through his Ultra Air company and Don Hugo will attend for free.
“Then we’ll map out what January and February look like for him, but the race I’m most excited about is defending his Miracle Mile crown because it’s such a suitable race for him.”
In another coup for the Summer of Glory, McCarthy confirmed his champion mare Eye Keep Smiling was close to a return to the track and would focus on the main mares’ races, starting with the $50,000 Group 3 Make Mine Cullen in Ballarat on January 24.
The other legs are the $50,000 Group 3 Angelique at Cranbourne on January 31 and the $150,000 Group 1 Queen of the Pacific at Melton on February 14.
Eye Keep Smiling, who has 28 wins in just 40 starts, has collected $805,283 and has the chance to break the $1 million barrier in Victoria.
The rising six-year-old has not raced since a big third place against the boys in the Group 1 Len Smith Mile at Menangle on September 6.
Eye Keep Smiling had won her previous eleven starts against her own gender.
“She had some time off so they could breed her by flushing an embryo,” McCarthy said.
‘She’s actually on the scene quicker than I thought and she’ll be going to court by the end of the month.
“It’s great to be able to target the mares’ races with her. She’s good enough to race the boys, as she’s shown, but she’s just been so dominant against the girls.”
Through Adam Hamiltonfor Harness Racing Victoria
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