Kingman’s plan to snare Victoria’s new $1 million bonus has been hatched.
Trainer Luke McCarthy confirmed Australia’s most exciting pacer would launch his attack on the six-race Victorian Cups’ circuit in the first of them, the $75,000 Group 2 Bendigo Cup (1609m) on January 10.
Kingman, who burst into the big league with Victoria and NZ Cups wins, is locked-in 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 are going hard at it (the bonus) from the start,” McCarthy said. “We’ll have him raring to go for Bendigo and then back-up at Shepparton the week after and Ballarat after that (January 24).
“We’re happy to take him into Bendigo without a lead-up race. He’s an easy horse to train, so he won’t need one.
“He had a couple of easy weeks after coming home from NZ, but he’s back fast- working now and I can get him right with a strong workout at Menangle.
“Think back to the NZ Cup, he went into that without a run since he won the Victoria Cup, which was three-and-a-half weeks before it.”
Kingman has been a revelation since joining McCarthy’s stable with nine starts netting seven wins and a second.
His performance to come three-wide without cover and outstay the great Leap To Fame in the NZ Cup is widely regarded as one of the best wins in the history of the iconic race.
Confirmation Kingman will race at Bendigo cements a fairytale start to Harness Racing Victoria’s revamped Summer of Glory with freaking trotting mare Keayang Zahara to race on the same night in the $100,000 Group 1 Maori Mile.
McCarthy said talks with owner Tony Licastro over the night fortnight would decide whether last Saturday week’s Group 1 Blacks A Fake winner Don Hugo tackled any of the Cups in Victoria.
“He’s actually racing this week,” he said. “Tony is sponsoring the meeting through his Ultra Air company and Don Hugo will be in the free-for-all.
“Then we’ll map out how January and February look for him, but the race I’m most keen on 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 racetrack return and would target the feature mares’ races, starting with the $50,000 Group 3 Make Mine Cullen at 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 boasts 28 wins from just 40 starts, has banked $805,283 and gets her chance to smash through the $1 million mark in Victoria.
The rising six-year-old hasn’t raced since a huge third against the boys in the Group 1 Len Smith Mile at Menangle on September 6.
Eye Keep Smiling had won her previous 11 starts against her own sex.
“She had some time out so they could breed from her by flushing an embryo,” McCarthy said.
“She’s actually come to hand quicker than I thought and she’ll be off to the trials by the end of the month.
“It’s great to have the mares’ races to target with her. She’s good enough to race the boys, as she’s shown, but she’s just been so dominant against the girls.”
