Aussie’s big three to square off in Cranbourne Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

By Adam Hamilton

Champion horseman Luke McCarthy could hardly contain his excitement after New Zealand Cup winner Kingman drew perfectly in gate one for Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Cranbourne Cup (2555m).

It is a huge advantage when he clashes for the first time in the same race with both Leap To Fame and Swayzee.

Leap To Fame, who led throughout to beat Kingman into fourth spot in last Saturday night’s Group 2 Ballarat Cup, will start from gate four.

Swayzee, winner of two NZ Cups and the reigning Hunter Cup hero, fared worst with the outside draw (gate seven) in a field of just seven.

“You beauty. That’s huge. The draws are just so important when you get these great horses together,” McCarthy said.

The draw looks especially important to Kingman given it’s his fourth run in as many weeks and his only win in his past three starts came when he drew the pole and led throughout in the Shepparton Cup to beat Leap To Fame.

Kingman sat one-one when a lacklustre third to Bulletproof Boy in the Bendigo Cup on January 10.

You could cut him slack on that given a hectic travel schedule in extreme heat.

But the five-year-old looked all at sea when he hung very badly at times after sitting outside Leap To Fame and tired late for fourth.

“He just didn’t handle the tight bends at all at Ballarat,” McCarthy said.

Cranbourne has a tricky home bend, but Kingman, like all pacers, will handle it much better against the marker pegs.

He looks like a certain leader.

What will be fascinating is how Swayzee is driven from the wide draw and whether that creates a rare opportunity for Grant Dixon to drive Leap To Fame with a trail.

To have all three superstars in the same race is awesome for Cranbourne and rewards the club for boosting prize money by $50,000 and gaining Group 1 status for its Cup.

Between them, the trio has won 110 races and earned almost $8.3 million in prize money.

Although this is the first time they have clashed, Kingman holds a 3-1 lead over Leap To Fame in their meetings and Swayzee is 1-1 with Kingman so far.

In contrast, Saturday night’s $75,000 Group 1 Cranbourne Trotters’ Cup looks like another easy win for the amazing Keayang Zahara.

She should work to the front and post her 23rd win from 24 starts.

Victory this week would mean she only has to add the $250,000 Group 1 Great Southern Star at Melton on February 14 to cement the new $500,000 bonus.

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