Mick Boots (Left) with Swayzee and Cameron Hart Photo by Stuart McCormick
THE Mick Boots show has just started.
Boots, a former garbo, pub worker and truck driver, made a fortune transforming his father’s landscaping business and selling it a few years ago.
He got the “bug” for harness racing in 2009 through his first pacer Jaydens Castle and has turned into a dynasty since selling the business.
“I’ve got over 300 racehorses now, plus the mares and babies at home,” he said.
Boots is notoriously reclusive, but his emergence as a huge force, initially through champion stayer Swayzee, has forced him into the public eye.
He doesn’t enjoy the limelight, but he knows it’s important for the game.
That was clear for all to see when the self-proclaimed “knockabout bloke who will have a beer and chat with anybody” was front and centre on his biggest and most successful night at the races on Hunter Cup night at Melton last Saturday.
Boots won three feature races at Melton, including the Group 1 Hunter Cup itself for the second successive year with Swayzee (Rock N Roll Heaven-Lettucereason by Art Major).
It was the first time a pacer has won back-to-back Hunter Cups since former champion Kiwi mare Blossom Lady in 1994 and ’95.
Boots’ brilliant young mare Captains Mistress (Captaintreacherous-Imaginary Bet by Bettors Delight) thrashed her rivals in one of Australia’s best mares’ races, the Group 1 Queen of the Pacific.
And another of his favourites, injury-plagued star speedster Hi Manameisjeff, won the novel 1200m dash called the Mercury80 as he prepares for the $A1 million Miracle Mile at Menangle on March 14.
As Boots’ dominance was unfolding at Melton, he propped in front of a TV screen to watch his awesome three-year-old Hollywood Strip stretch his unbeaten record to six races with a stunning first-up victory at Menangle.
The Brad Hewitt-trained Hollywood Strip (Sweet Lou-Bang Bang Moilly by Sportswriter) cruised home in a 1min50.4sec mile. It’s the fourth run in a row he’s clocked a sub-1min51sec mile.
His first big target this season is the Group 1 NSW Derby on March 14. He’s clearly the horse to beat.
Boots is as relaxed and matter of fact as they come, but he was buzzing by his standards at Melton.
Actions speak louder than words.
Boots is normally hiding in the background, but he didn’t miss a presentation or photo and, incredibly, did a series of interviews.
“Why would anyone want to talk to me?” he grinned.
Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come given the force Boots will be in so many upcoming major races.
He gave a context to Swayzee’s amazing Hunter Cup win that very few knew.
“The win was a real surprise to me,” he said. “After he got really sick last year, we weren’t sure he’d make it back (to the races).
“He had a really bad bowel infection after his trip to Perth (last April) and that’s why he missed so much racing through the middle of the year.
“Jason (Grimson, trainer) has done a great job of getting him back to races as good as he was before it.
“I thought a top four finish would be great given what he’d been through, but he doesn’t like getting beaten, does he.
“He’s been an incredible horse for us all and Jason’s been such a big part of that.”
For all the stunning success Grimson has had with his incredible “splash” in Down Under racing over the past five or six years, that second Hunter Cup win was his greatest achievement so far given the background Boots outlined.
Swayzee has banked almost $A2.5 million with major wins including two Hunter Cups, two NZ Cups, a Victoria Cup and a Blacks A Fake.
The gelding’s next target is the $A1 million Miracle Mile at Menangle on March 14. He will need to qualify through one of two lead-up races the week before at the same track.
Those qualifiers are on the same night Boots’ new sensation, Captains Mistress, will try to become just the fourth mare to beat the boys in Australia’s biggest four-year-old race, the Group 1 Chariots Of Fire.
Captains Mistress beat Australia’s best mares by 25m in last Saturday night’s Group 1 Queen of the Pacific.
Since joining Grimson’s barn from NZ late last year, she’s won her four starts by an aggregate of 79.7 metres.
“She’s starting to challenge Swayzee as my favourite horse,” Boots admitted.
Driver Cam Hart added: “Swayzee’s the greatest horse I’ve driven, but this mare is the most exciting.”
Boots also got a huge thrill from Hi Manameisjeff’s Melton win. It was his 16th win from 24 starts for Grimson, having joined him with a history of nasty tendon issues.
That’s where Boots is no average owner. Insiders say he played a key role in Hi Manameisjeff’s rehabilitation at his farm in country NSW.
Australasia’s foremost harness media presenter, Brittany Graham, knows Boots well and gave a deeper insight into the man.
“He’s just salt of the earth in every way,” she said. “He’s become so important to the game and he loves it.
“You see these big name horses with big stables, but he’s always quick to support young trainers coming through.
“So many big owners would focus on one stable, but not Michael. He’d have them spread between, 40, or maybe even 50 different trainers to support them all. And that's all across Australia and NZ.”
When you know that, it’s impossible to begrudge Boots a night like last Saturday.
And it looks like there will be plenty more like it to come.
PHOTO: Stuart McCormick
