Kingman NZ after winning the NZ Cup
CHAMPION horseman Luke McCarthy can’t help but wonder what might have been in last month’s epic Brisbane Inter Dominion with his two stable stars.
Kingman and Don Hugo have beaten the great Leap To Fame five times between them, but both missed the Brisbane series for varying reasons.
Kingman, who has beaten Leap To Fame three times and more emphatically than any other horse, will be the first of them to return. He will trial at Menangle on Wednesday week.
“I tossed up going this Wednesday, but I’ll wait another week because we’re not in a rush. He’s very close,” McCarthy said.
It’s a different story with Don Hugo, who has a strained ligament and won’t chase any big races until early next year when the Hunter Cup, another Miracle Mile and maybe Perth’s Nullarbor are top of the wish list.
But Kingman is McCarthy’s focus now and his ticket into the sport’s next two marquee races, the Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton on October 17 and the $NZ800,000 Group 1 NZ Cup in Christchurch on November 10.
Kingman beat Leap To Fame to win both races last
year, most notably the NZ Cup where he endured a harder run than the Queensland great and still outstayed him.
It was the performance of the year.
But it was also back on November 11 and Kingman, who many felt was primed to dethrone Leap To Fame as the best pacer in this part of the world, only managed to win two of his next nine starts.
One of those was beating Leap To Fame for a third time in the Shepparton Cup on January 17, but he was then beaten at his next seven starts and, amazingly, unplaced in five of those.
McCarthy looks back and knows he asked too much of the five-year-old, who was only having his 30th start when he beat Leap To Fame for the first time in the Victoria Cup.
“He just got tired. Looking back, it’s clear he is a horse who doesn’t really like the heat and those five runs he had in Melbourne in the space of just six weeks through summer really took their toll,” McCarthy said.
“He tricked us a bit. When he got back home to Sydney, he seemed great so we had a go at the Miracle Mile (qualifier and race itself) and even went on to Cambridge (in NZ) for the slot race, but he just wasn’t the same horse in his races.
“I’d totally forget and forgive those runs, I know I have myself.
“He’s shown what he’s capable of when he’s right and he seems right back to his old self at home.
“There’s no doubt Leap To Fame is the benchmark and one of the greatest we’ve ever seen, but we’re not guessing if Kingman can beat him. We know he can and on his merits as he did in those wins.
“I can’t wait to get him back up and racing. He’ll have a trial and two or three lead-up runs here (Menangle) and then we’ll head to the Victoria Cup.
“We’re following the same plan as last year, so it’ll be over to Christchurch after that for the (NZ) Cup.”
Although Kingman won’t have Leap To Fame to contend with in the Victoria Cup, wonder mare Captains Mistress will be there.
The Kingman/Leap To Fame rivalry will be renewed in the NZ Cup.
PHOTO: HRNZ/Race Images NZ
