Trainer Kate Hargreaves is “pinching herself” ahead of a Vicbred Super Series Finals night where she will saddle four runners in Group 1 races.
“It feels very surreal. I’ve never had more than one Group 1 runner on a night, so to have four and a few actual chances is very exciting. It’s unbelievable,” she said.
Prior to season 2019-20, Hargreaves, 28, had trained 40 career winners, so this season’s 118 victories from 529 starters is a clear personal best.
Tonight, Hargreaves will line up Beau Garcon (in Race 1), Beat City (Race 4), Dont Care (Race 7) and Wisp Of Smoke (Race 12) in search of Group 1 glory on Victorian harness racing’s prestigious Vicbred Super Series program.
Juvenile trotter Dont Care, a winner of four races from 11 so far including a last-start Vicbred heat, is a leading contender with “lots of upside”, says Hargreaves.
“He’s just going to get better and better,” she said.
“He’s a big, gross sort of horse, so we’re confident he will be better as a three-year-old. We don’t really know where his ceiling is, but we know he’s a really nice horse with such a laidback manner.”
How Dont Care came to be with Hargreaves is a good yarn.
“Alby (Hargreaves’ partner and stable driver Alex Ashwood) was at the airport and his plane got delayed, so he turned the Australasian Premier Trotting Sale on his phone,” the trainer said.
“He saw Dont Care walking around and liked the look of him, so on a whim he got someone to bid and we bought him for $11,000.”
From there, Hargreaves tweeted a picture of the trotter and sought expressions of interest from people interested in getting involved in racehorse ownership.
Darren Carroll was one who saw the tweet and decided to take a share in the young trotter.
“A thrill of a lifetime being involved with this young horse,” he tweeted during the week. “Already Group 1 placed and can’t wait until Thursday night.”
Hargreaves said the whole ownership group behind Dont Care was “loving every minute” of the journey.
“They come and watch him every opportunity they get. During COVID-19 they were all tuning in to watch from home. They’re having the time of their lives,” she said.
Hargreaves was confident Dont Care was “peaking at the right time” and was a live chance tonight of delivering the stable Group 1 success.
But the trainer believes a stable favourite, a three-year-old pacer named Beat City, might be her best chance for the night.
“He has gate speed and I think (driver) Ellen (Tormey) will be driving him a bit more confidently and not wanting to hand up too easily,” she said.
“His work has been fantastic. I couldn’t be happier with him. I’ve never had a horse go into a big race like this as well as he is now.”
Regardless of how tonight pans out, Hargreaves and Ashwood will be eagerly keeping an eye on the 2021 Australasian Premier Trotting Sale in February.
WATCH: THE VICBRED SUPER SERIES PREVIEW SHOW