Photo: Courtesy HRNZ
MIGHTY stayer Swayzee is on target for the biggest payday in Australasian harness racing history.
As lucrative as his two New Zealand Cup wins have been, Swayzee can bank a lot more than he did combined for those wins if he can clean sweep the NSW Carnival of Cups series.
Victory in all five legs will pocket Swayzee’s connections a $1 million bonus.
Swayzee won the first leg at Parkes on September 20, then added the second at Young on November 8.
Incredibly, less than four days after the Young win, Swayzee won his second successive NZ Cup – NZ’s most iconic race – after flights from Sydney to Auckland then another to Christchurch. He only arrived in Christchurch 30 hours before the Cup.
Trainer Jason Grimson and owner Mick Boots surprised by sacrificing a shot at the recent NSW Inter Dominion series to focus on chasing the Carnival of Cups bonus.
Swayzee’s “bush tour” of NSW will continue when he returns from a short break in Thursday’s $50,000 Group 3 Shirley Turnbull Memorial at Bathurst.
Although the race isn’t a leg of the Carnival of Cups, it is a key target to sharpen-up Swayzee given he hasn’t started since winning the NZ Cup on November 12.
“That NZ trip is a tough one and it would’ve been asking too much of him to try and do the Inter Dominion as well,” Grimson said.
“Instead, we got to give him a good break and then go again.
“He trialled well (at Menangle) last week and this run at Bathurst should bring him a lot as we head to the next Cup.”
The third leg is at Tamworth on January 17, followed by Albury on February 14.
Although the $1 million bonus for winning all five races is the ultimate goal, Swayzee will be guaranteed a $250,000 bonus if he wins at Tamworth and that grows to $500,000 if he adds Albury.
The fifth and final leg is the time-honoured Renshaw Cup at Penrith on March 15.
Such is the focus, Grimson said it was “highly unlikely” Swayzee would tackle Australia’s greatest staying race, the Group 1 Hunter Cup at Melton on February 1, despite it landing between NSW targets.
“You can’t run in everything. The Hunter Cup is always a tough race and while it would suit him, it’s a trip to Melbourne when he’s still the two main legs of the (Carnival of) Cups to come,” Grimson said.
Swayzee, who boasts 25 wins from just 58 starts and almost $1.8 million in earnings, has been sparingly raced this year with just nine starts for six wins and three seconds. Two of the seconds have been to his champion half-brother, Leap To Fame.
Doubts also linger over Leap To Fame for the Hunter Cup after a niggling throat infection forced him to miss the Victoria and NZ Cups along with the recent Inter Dominion series.
“We’ll know more by mid-January on how he’s progressing and decide then,” trainer-driver Grant Dixon said.
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
