Inter Dominion winning trainer Kevin Pizzuto and driver Todd McCarthy form one of the trots’ power combinations right now.
McCarthy heads the New South Wales drivers’ premiership and sits sixth on the national chart, while Pizzuto is fourth in the metro NSW trainers’ race but has the best strike rate in the top 10.
Tomorrow night at Tabcorp Park Melton as the 2019 TAB Summer of Glory draws to a close, Tiger Tara will be looking to roar to another Victorian Grand Circuit feature success.
The bay stallion is a clear favourite for the $500,000 Del-Re National A.G. Hunter Cup over 2760 metres from barrier three.
His opponents must find his form scarily good.
In December at Melton Tiger Tara obliterated all comers in the TAB Inter Dominion Championship. Two months prior at the same venue he did similar in the Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup.
The horse has a knack for performing on the big stage, which McCarthy says is down to Pizzuto’s horsemanship and the trainer’s relationship with Tiger Tara.
“As he’s gotten to know Tiger Tara a lot better he seems to have had him a lot sharper on the big nights,” McCarthy said, adding, “It makes my job a hell of a lot easier that’s for sure.”
“He’s a very smart guy, Kev, and he does a terrific job with his horses.
“I’ve been driving for Kev for four or five years now. I started off getting a few here and there as a claim driver and then slowly become his main driver.
“I think we get along pretty well. We have similar ideas on races and the way we look at things. My driving style probably suits Kevin’s horses and the way he trains them and likes to see them race. It’s a good combination.
“I’m probably a little more introverted I guess, but he’s a really good guy, Kevin, and he’s looked after me very well for many years now. Once you get to know Kev he’s very easy to get along with.”
Largely McCarthy attributes his success to trainers like Pizzuto who afford him opportunities in the sulky. But those who believe in bloodlines would have had the 25-year-old locked in as a future superstar right from the start.
A son of highly respected horseman John McCarthy, Todd’s older brothers are both champion drivers – Luke and Andy.
“Growing up with mentors like Luke and Dad I was really blessed. In my opinion they’re some of the best teachers you could have. If I couldn’t drive a winner after that I was probably going to be in some trouble,” McCarthy said.
“I left school when I was 16 and started working for dad at home with my two older brothers and we all got along really well. Not long after I left school Andy moved to the US and he’s now one of the top 10 drivers in North America. He’s doing a really good job over there.”
McCarthy said the prospect of working in the family business was “a great opportunity” and once he drove in races he “was hooked”.
“It probably took me until I was 19 or 20 to hit my straps and get going. Seel N Print helped me a lot back in 2014 when we ran second in the Inter. He put me on the map and I started picking up a few drives after that,” he said.
Aside from Tiger Tara, McCarthy named family-favourite Be Good Johnny, Slipnslide, Fleur De Lil and Frith as some of the best horses he’s been affiliated with along the journey so far.
“I was lucky enough to drive Be Good Johnny maybe at his last ever win before we retired him. He won a couple of Miracle Miles and being affiliated with a stable with these sort of horses growing up was pretty special,” he said.
McCarthy goes into tonight’s big stage feeling as confident as he can. The barrier draw has fallen his way and Tiger Tara will relish the long trip.
“The barrier draw is so important in these big races and it’s worked out really well for us,” he said.
Confidence in running out the staying distance stronger than most comes from not only the ID18 triumph but from two New Zealand Cup placings over two miles in 2017 and 2018, which could easily have been back-to-back wins in the race that stops the land of the long white cloud.
“The first time he had a crack in the (New Zealand Cup) he jumped off stride in the back straight, got back down and mustered back through to run third,” McCarthy said.
It was an enormous run.
“Then last year he was a huge second. He’s just been terrific both times over there and he’s such a tough horse over the distance that’s where he really shines,” McCarthy said.
This run was even bigger than the previous one.
But the disappointment of narrow defeat in NZ was pushed out of mind in front of the national audience at the ID18, which McCarthy says was his career highlight.
“It doesn’t get much bigger and more prestigious than winning an Inter Dominion, especially in Australian harness racing. It’s one race everybody aspires to win and be a part of. To be able to win one at 25 was pretty special. And to be able to do it with a mate like Kevin and that horse was awesome,” he said.
“At the thousand I’d had a look around and when they got trucking three-wide I thought I’d had some pretty cheap sectionals and knew then they’d have to be good to beat us.
“He felt good and I knew I had a lot of horse under me still. He was really stretching out and covering the ground so well and comfortably, so I was happy enough from the 800m to let him slide and if they were good enough to beat me then so be it.
“At the home turn, you never really know how they’re coming, but I felt I was doing pretty well myself and he felt good and was just powering through the line.
As he lines up aboard Tiger Tara for the 51st time, McCarthy said the stallion on the whole was “pretty easy to get around”.
“Sometimes he just takes a bit of winding up,” he said.
“The first time I ever drove him I was three-wide the trip at Menangle (in 1:50.7). The horse in the chair left us out there and we had a tough trip. I hopped off and said to Kev, ‘you’ve got a pretty serious horse on your hands here’. Horses just don’t do that.
“He’s a very intelligent horse and he wants to win, you can really feel that he doesn’t want to let them other horses get past him. You have to respect horses like that and it’s an absolute privilege to be able to drive him.”
Photos: Ashlea Brennan Photography, Stuart McCormick and South West Voice.
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