Swayzee after winning the 2026 AG Hunter Cup. Photo by Stuart McCormick
THE old boy isn’t done yet.
Mighty stayer Swayzee will head to the Menangle trials tomorrow (Wednesday) as he prepares for what could be his last campaign of racing.
But connections are still aiming at the top with the rising nine-year-old.
Owner Mick Boots confirmed a trip to NZ in November to chase a record-equalling third win in the iconic NZ Cup.
Terror To Love is the most recent in 2011, ’12 and13. False Step (1958, ’59 and ’60) and Indianapolis (1934, ’35 and ’36) are the only other three-time winners since the Cup was first run 1904.
Swayzee won in 2023 and ’24 but missed last year’s race after an untimely health setback.
If he wins this year, he will become the first horse to win three NZ Cups but not in successive years.
“We’d love to get him back for another crack at it (NZ Cup), that’s the plan,” Boots said.
“Swayzee and Minos are the two (pacers) ‘Grimmo’ (trainer Jason Grimson) is setting for the (NZ Cup).”
Swayzee showed he is still a major force earlier this year when he beat the great Leap To Fame for a third time and won his second Group 1 Hunter Cup on February 14.
But fans won’t get to see Swayzee try and win a second Victoria Cup next month. He won the race in 2024 before snaring his second NZ Cup win.
“No, he won’t be going to Melton. Captains Mistress the one we’ve set for that,” Boots said.
Swayzee hasn’t raced since finishing third to Kiwi stars Got The Chocolates and The Lazarus Effect in the Group 1 Messenger at Auckland’s Alexandra Park on May 8.
“He wasn’t right by the end of that trip,” Boots said. “He was tying-up, so we decided to give him a good break when he got back home. But he seems to have come back really well.”
Captains Mistress, who upstaged Leap To Fame in that epic Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 18, is also nearing a racetrack return.
“She’ll trial in the next week or two and probably have two runs before the Victoria Cup (October 17),” Boots said.
Captains Mistress is trying to become the first mare to win the Victoria Cup, dubbed the Cox Plate of harness racing.
“After Melton, she’ll then go to NZ, but not for the Cup. I don’t think it’s a suitable race for her over two miles (3200m).
“She’s got the Kaikoura Cup (November 2), can run in the (NZ) free-for-all (November 13) and then there’s two other big races for her in NZ. She’ll stay in NZ for the rest of the year after Kaikoura.”
