Swayzee. Photo by Club Menangle
New South Wales champion pacer Swayzee’s New Zealand campaign concluded last Friday night in Auckland with a brave third behind up and coming kiwi superstar Got The Chocolates in the Group 1 Messenger Stakes.
It seems that as he gets older, Swayzee is showing increased gate speed and was chased off the arm by regular reinsman Cam Hart to lead over the gruelling 2700m Alexandra Park stayer’s test.
With just a small eight-horse field, the Jason Grimson-trained pacer was left as a sitting shot as the opposition strung out, allowing his main rivals to gather him in over the concluding stages.
Both Got The Chocolates and The Lazarus Effect enjoyed economical runs on the back of Swayzee, Hart adopting catch-me-if-you-can tactics on the known stayer.
It is likely that Swayzee will return to Australia for a quick freshen up before Grimson sets him for the Inter Dominion series in Brisbane.
“He was super on Friday night, we just run into a couple of horses that are racing at the top of their game in their own back yard,” said Hart.
“When he left the gate so well and the lead was up for grabs, I had no hesitation to push on.
“We tried our best to take the gas out of the two dangers, but they just had too good a trip, and like always our fella was game.”
Known for his incredible work ethic as a reinsman, Hart made his way back to Sydney where he had a full book of drives at Menangle on Saturday night.
New South Wales’ premier reinsman finds himself in a tough tussle with Jett Turnbull in the Premiership race this season, the pair trading blow for blow each week which sets up for an interesting battle over the next eight months.
Hart will combine with Grimson for two of his three drives at Bathurst on Wednesday night, including classy filly Fake Friends who appears hard to beat in race six as she drops vastly in grade from competing against a hot field the New South Wales Oaks last time out.
