.jpg)
Training the hot favourite in a Group 1 $130,000 race usually comes with some level of pressure but David Moran knows what awaits Lochinvar Art at Tabcorp Park Melton tomorrow night is just a tasty appetiser.
Once he’s safely through his Ultimate Machete Vicbred Super Series final, Moran and his magnificent pacer have a far greater task: proving he is the best in Australasia.
Lochinvar Art should end his stunning 2020 on the high multi punters hope for tomorrow night, having barrier one just a week after thrashing his Victorian arch rival Hurricane Harley in the semi-final.
If he wins Lochinvar Art will cap a year that started with him smashing the Victorian mile rate record in the 4YO Bonanza in January, form that continued weeks later when he won the Chariots Of Fire in Sydney and then on to home-town glory with a Victoria Cup win for the ages in October.
Moran, Lochinvar Art’s 33-year-old trainer/driver, thinks he has the best horse in Australasia, but needs to prove it again against King Of Swing (NSW), Chicago Bull (WA) and New Zealand’s Self Assured and Spankem in February’s Del-Re National A. G. Hunter Cup and March’s Miracle Mile.
If he does that Moran’s pride and joy will wear the crown and the others will have to bow.
“I think I have the best horse, but these other horses and trainers, they are something special,” Moran said.
“When you grow up and want to get into harness racing you don’t imagine you will drive against Luke McCarthy and Mark Purdon that often, let alone beat them. But we know Arty can do that now.
“But the races coming up, they are the benchmarks. If we can win a Hunter Cup or Miracle Mile, or both, then my job is done.”
Moran hasn’t been scared to race his rocket ship of a pacer and suggests all going well fans at Shepparton (January 16) and Ballarat (January 23) could see him contest their cups in the January lead-up to the February 6 Hunter Cup, which is the climax to Victoria’s TAB Summer of Glory.
“We might have the best horse but we can’t expect to win them all. Some of these horses, you just can’t sit parked outside them and beat them,” Moran said. “So my job is to get him right and give him his chance.”
By contrast, tomorrow night’s final should be a breeze. Drawn gate one, the plan will be to try and hold the lead and, if he can’t, don’t get trapped away on the markers.
The rest will be up to Arty, and those multi punters are in good hands because he is that good.
How good? We will find out between now and the March 6 Miracle Mile.
WATCH LOCHINVAR ART CHASE GROUP 1 GLORY ON 7MATE FROM 8-9.30PM TOMORROW
WATCH: THE VICBRED SUPER SERIES PREVIEW SHOW
