Oh what an important barrier draw this is going to be.
Bendigo was a delicious entrée, but things will really hot-up when three of the biggest pacing stars in this part of the world – Leap To Fame, Swayzee and Kingman – clash for the first time in Saturday night’s $50,000 Group 3 Shepparton Gold Cup.
And the old giant-killer, Bulletproof Boy, could be there, too.
It’s not just the best Victorian country cup field of the modern era, but one of the great races.
One of the real points of difference for harness racing is how often or stars race regionally out in the country.
It’s almost unthinkable you would see one thoroughbred the calibre of these horses racing in the bush, let alone them all clashing.
Although they stretch out to a classic 2690m distance, where the glamour trio draw will shape betting and probably the result.
As great as Leap To Fame is, it seems the day of him just turning up and dominating are gone.
Remember, Kingman has raced Leap To Fame just twice and beaten him both times on his merits in the Victoria Cup (October 18) and NZ Cup (November 11).
Swayzee and Don Hugo are the other open-class stars to have beaten Leap To Fame twice, but the champ has beaten them both lots more than they have him.
In a sport where early gate speed is gold, the strange thing is Leap To Fame, Swayzee and Kingman actually don’t have much early speed at all.
At best, they are average beginners.
So, this barrier draw is more about who draws to be in the best spot to work forward and challenge the lead.
Given how superior the trio is to the rest of their likely rivals, it’s almost certain whatever leads early would happily take a trail on the first of the big guns to look them in the eye.
I’ve still got Leap To Fame top seed, but I can see why so many are asking why.
Kingman’s emergence has been breathtaking. To hop, skip and still run down Leap To Fame in the Victoria Cup at his first Grand Circuit test was enormous.
But it’s what he did on that massive NZ stage at Addington that really marked his arrival.
In the 100-plus year history of the NZ Cup, it ranks as one of THE greatest performances.
Remember, he came three-wide without cover for the last 1400m – with Leap To Fame outside leader Republican Party – and humbled them both.
Republican Party has franked the form by dominating back in NZ since.
And Leap To Fame has won two of his three runs since and was beaten a lip in a near career-best run when second in the Blacks A Fake.
All that underlines the enormity of what Kingman did in that NZ Cup.
Don’t let his surprise first-up defeat in last Saturday night’s Bendigo Cup worry you too much.
His trainer-driver Luke McCarthy has already turned the page, citing the long trip down from his Cobbitty stable to Melton on the day of the race for the “very flat” performance.
If McCarthy expects an immediate bounce back, I’m respecting that.
Then there’s the old boy of the Grand Circuit, Swayzee, who turned eight a couple of weeks ago.
After a frustrating 2024 when setbacks restricted him, the jury was out on whether he could still be the big race brute he had been for the previous two years.
As if sensing the occasion, Swayzee and his trainer Jason Grimson (who took a rare drive on the pacer), delivered the most stunning of timely reminders in the Goulburn Cup.
Before you say “hang on, it was just the Goulburn Cup”, consider Swayzee crushed Don Hugo in the race after eye-balling him for the last 1200m.
It was the Swayzee of old.
While Swayzee seems old at eight, not so against 11-year-old Bulletproof Boy, who has enjoyed the best year of his career since turning “double figures” this time last year.
Yes he took the shortcuts to successfully defend his Bendigo Cup crown last Saturday night, but it was the way he picked up and how easily he won which most impressed driver James Herbertson.
Let’s hope he backs up at Shepparton, too.
And we may even have champion trotting mare Keayang Zahara in the Shepparton Trotters’ Cup.
Back in early 2000, the Shepparton track was packed to the rafters to watch young Kiwi superstar Courage Under Fire tackle a lead-up race to the Inter Dominion that year.
Saturday night’s crowd will surely rival that.
Let’s hope they get the race they deserve.
