Hectorjayjay
A CHAT over a beer with a new friend in beautiful beachside Manly near Sydney was the spark for Mick Harvey’s splurge into harness racing.
From that first chat about a decade ago with well-known Aussie racing media man Gareth Hall, Harvey has gone from no involvement in the sport to one of Australia’s most prominent harness owners, sponsor, breeder and now media proprietor.
There have been times Harvey lamented that meeting, but those moments were washed away with ecstasy at Melton last Saturday night.
Harvey lived his dream when Kingman upstaged a strong field, headed by champion pacer Leap To Fame, to win the Group 1 Victoria Cup.
It’s not the biggest race Harvey has won as an owner, but by far the most special.
“It meant everything … and I mean everything,” he said. “This horse (Kingman) is so special to me. He’s the first horse I ever bred and I’ve had him all the way through.
“More than that, it goes back to when I bought his dam, Gotta Go Dali Queen.
“When I get into something, I like to understand it properly. I do my homework — study and research not just on form, but on bloodlines and breeding to identify good horses and make selections.
“Gareth convinced me to give the trots a go. Once I started digging into pedigrees and formlines, I realised how much detail there is behind every good horse.
“I’ve always been meticulous in identifying and selecting the right types — I enjoy finding the horses and families that I think can keep improving over time.
“I bought Gotta Go Dali Queen because she was out of the family of a mare I just loved during my research, called Elect To Live.
“Dali won a few races for me and even ran in a couple of Group 1’s, but I really bought her to breed from … Kingman the first foal out of her (by Always B Miki).
“Just a few days before Kingman won the Cup, Dali had a filly foal by Captaintreacherous and I’m sending her back to Always B Miki this season.”
Harvey insists he was ahead of the curve with Gotta Go Dali Queen’s family value and with choosing Always B Miki as her first partner.
“Look at the Always B Miki’s two years ago, they could hardly sell them at the Aussie yearling sales and now they’re in huge demand again,” he said.
“Mister Smartee in Perth, who won the big Nullarbor slot race and Fremantle Cup double earlier this year, and now Kingman are his best advertisements Down Under at the moment.”
Harvey’s interest in pedigrees and breeding didn’t stop with Gotta Go Dali Queen.
“Oh, heck no,” he said. “I’ve 20 broodmares now and my own farm for them about 30 minutes south of Menangle.
“I also bought into the Nike Franco family before (her son) Bay Of Biscay came along and won the Chariots Of Fire and TAB Eureka this year.”
Harvey’s exciting two-year-old filly Ripples is out Naiya Franco, a half-sister to Nike Franco.
“When I first started out, I was buying shares in horses and having lots of success. I said I’d never get into breeding, but then I got the bug,” he said.
Harvey’s first taste of a serious horse came when bought a major share in the then emerging Victorian pacer Hectorjayjay.
Fittingly, Hall took a small share, too.
Hectorjayjay was transferred to decorated trainer David Aiken in early 2016 and became a star.
He won a string of big races, including the Len Smith Mile and Sunshine Sprint at Group 1 level, and was heartbreakingly nosed out by great Kiwi stayer Smolda in the last few strides when second in the 2016 Perth Inter Dominion final.
“What a horse he was to us, he came back and won a second Sunshine Sprint and the (Group 1) Blacks A Fake in 2017,” Harvey said.
“He was just so fast. One of those horses who could just loop a field and win, as he did a few times. Sadly, injury cut him down in his prime.”
At the time Harvey was attempting an unsuccessful comeback with Hectorjayjay in 2018, he bought a share in an exciting Kiwi pacer called King Of Swing, who had won the Breeders Crown final the previous year as a two-year-old.
King Of Swing would go on to become one of the great Aussie pacers of the modern era as the first pacer to win three Miracle Miles, along with two Hunter Cups, three Australian Harness Horse of the Year titles and so much more.
It was through King Of Swing where Harvey got to know champion horseman Luke McCarthy.
When King Of Swing’s form waned in Western Australia, Harvey suggested and negotiated a move to the other side of Australia.
“I actually already had a good relationship with Luke McCarthy — he’d been driving winners for me around that time, and we worked really well together.
“When King Of Swing wasn’t quite firing in Western Australia, I initiated the move to bring him to NSW and into Luke’s care. It was a big call, but one I believed would give the horse a new environment and the best chance to reach his potential.
“Like with Hectorjayjay before him, it was about making the tough but right decision for the horse. Luke and I built a great friendship through that period, and it only grew stronger as King Of Swing went on to become one of the modern greats.”
The stallion raced 33 times for Team McCarthy for 25 wins, four seconds and three thirds. His only unplaced run was a fifth in the 2021 Inter Dominion final.
“That was a heck of a ride and it really showed me the genius of Luke, both as a trainer and driver,” Harvey said.
Fast-forward to early this year and Harvey’s mind wandered back to McCarthy’s deeds with King Of Swing when Kingman ran below his best in a couple of Menangle races for then trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin.
“It was a brave decision to take the horse off Emma and Clayton because they’re the best around and their record says so, but I just felt the horse needed a change of environment and a fresh start,” Harvey said.
“I’ve always had a huge opinion of him and he’s shown glimpses of being a really top horse in a few of his runs.”
Kingman’s Victoria Cup win last Saturday night came at just his seventh start for McCarthy.
“Whether it’s in business or in life, I’ve always believed in doing the work, trusting my judgment, and backing my instincts,” Harvey said.
“I put a lot of time into analysing form, bloodlines, and opportunities to get the best results possible — Kingman’s Victoria Cup win was one of those moments where that approach paid off.”
“That might give you an insight into why the win meant so much.”
Harvey thinks the Victoria Cup is just the start of things.
“He’s four and still not a finished product. I know Luke says however good he is now, he’ll be better again in six or 12 months,” he said.
“He even put in that gallop for a few strides, where he might have jumped a shadow or something, and picked himself to get going again and rundown Leap To Fame.
“He’s untapped and starting to show people why I’ve always held him in such high regard. Luke says we haven’t gotten to the bottom of him yet.”
Now the decision comes whether to live in the moment and pay a late entry fee ($NZ28,750) to chase the $NZ1 million NZ Cup at Addington in Christchurch on November 11, or look further down the track.
“I’d go if it was just my decision, but I’ll let the dust settle on the Victoria Cup and talk through it with Luke. He’s made the horse, I have to get his take on it all,” Harvey said.
“There’s options galore. Swayzee won the NZ Cup last year and we beat him two starts back. Leap To Fame is favourite to win this year and we beat him last time … we’ve got the form line.
“But we could wait and go to Brisbane for the ($A250,000) Blacks A Fake on December 6 and then there is a series of big races in Victoria early next year with a $A1 million bonus attached.
“These are good problems to have.”
What’s the man who talked Harvey into the game, Gareth Hall, think he should do with Kingman?
“Pack your bags, Mickey. Go to NZ. It’s how you roll and look at how it’s worked out so far,” he said.
COURTESY OF HARNESS RACING UPDATE
PHOTOS:- Hectorjayjay photo - courtesy Mick Harvey
