Contender: Comeback pacer For A Reason is an excellent chance in Saturday night's Gr.1 $200,000 Queensland Pacing Championship
The domination of the Queensland Pacing Championship from Team McCarthy is staggering.
During the past decade, the McCarthy stable has owned the state’s flagship event with seven victories from the past nine editions including the past four.
In fact, only one horse has stood between the McCarthy’s and full ownership of the famed event.
Queensland’s greatest champion – BLACKS A FAKE.
The McCarthy juggernaut commenced back in 2004 when Cobbity Classic and a fresh faced Luke McCarthy raced to victory before giant gelding Slipnslide recorded back to back victories in 2005/06.
Equine influenza forced the cancellation of the event in 2007 while Blacks A Fake did the double in 2008/09.
Since then, the McCarthy stable have tasted success with dual hemisphere champion Mr Feelgood twice (2010/11) while Washakie scored in 2012 before Ideal Scott scored a commanding victory last year.
John McCarthy took the winning drive behind Ideal Scott while Luke was aboard all other winners for the stable.
“It’s been a good race to us and we make it our business to win this race every year. This is where we got started and we always love racing in Brisbane, especially in the bigger races and this is the ultimate race to win in Queensland.” Luke McCarthy said.
On Saturday night, Luke and Belinda McCarthy will be represented by Victorian Cup winner For A Reason and lightly raced Kiwi gelding Our Hi Jinx who is unbeaten in two starts since crossing the Tasman last month.
With local star Avonnova looking dominant last week winning the Gr.2 Gold Coast Cup in track record time, the eye-catching performance came from For A Reason who made up good ground in brilliant sectionals.
The highly decorated Art Major entire has drawn ideally in gate three on Saturday night.
“Frank (For a Reason) was super last week and his sectionals were outstanding, it was a really encouraging sign heading into our main target during this Brisbane campaign.
“He missed a fair bit of racing over the winter owing to a cold and he was always going to need some hard racing to bring him up to speed and I think he’s almost ready to perform at his peak. He’s trained on really well and the draw is very handy so I’m happy heading into this weekend.
“Avonnova is clearly the horse to beat; he’s a beast right now with so much power to match his speed. His effort last week was excellent, he cut the fractions in front himself and looked just as strong at the finish as he did at the start. It’s a credit to Ian (Gurney) with the way he’s managed this horse, he’s got game.”
Connections will decide on a New Zealand Cup campaign following his effort on Saturday night.
McCarthy is happy to throw Our Hi Jinx in the deep end this weekend following his two effortless victories on Australian soil to date.
“This is a quantum rise in grade for him but I thought he deserved his opportunity, he’s a neat horse who can follow speed really and the barrier draw panned out perfectly for him.
“He reminds me a little of Lightning Raider (35 wins - $470k), a great follower of speed and still capable of running a good quarter himself at the end of his races.”
Our Hi Jinx has drawn the inside gate in the 2680m feature event.
Luke’s father John is also duly represented with Blazin N Cullen and Machtavish represent his stable.
The regally bred Blazin N Cullen, raced in the same ownership as a previous QPC winner in Washakie, was a runner-up to Avonnova last week in the Gold Coast Cup while Machtavish finished a tidy sixth.
Blazin N Cullen will start from gate six while Machtavish has drawn nine.
