DAVID Moran will be doing his best to play party pooper for the second time in a month when his stable star Captain Hammerhead clashes again with great stayer Swayzee in tonight’s $60,000 Group 3 Renshaw Cup at Penrith.
A daring and tactically brilliant drive by Moran saw Captain Hammerhead ruin Swayzee’s hopes of a massive $1 million bonus when he upstaged him in the Albury Cup on February 14.
Swayzee had won the first three legs of the NSW Carnival of Cups at Parkes, Young and Tamworth and needed to add Albury and Penrith to snare the richest bonus in the history of Australian harness racing.
Despite the shock defeat, Swayzee can still pocket his connections a $500,000 bonus if successful at Penrith.
“There’s no doubt coming back to a small track gives my horse a chance of beating him again,” Moran said.
“But it’s going to be harder for us than Albury, where the old-school track suited us even better and there wasn’t as much depth in the field as this week, meaning I could literally drive to beat one horse.”
Moran knows the importance of the first 300m of the 2525m race where he will be jostling to stay in front of Swayzee, just like he did at Albury when he was able to move around the field early, take the lead and control the race.
“It’s crucial. If Swayzee’s in front of me, it’s going to make it almost possible for us,” he said.
“I’ll be watching scratching time closely. If the emergency (Chevron Art) doesn’t get a run, Ardens Ace, who is a quick beginner, will move down to (gate) three and Swayzee will start from behind him (on the back row).
“There’s just more depth to this race, too. Speak The Truth is a serious horse when he’s right and others like Petes Said So and Betterzippit have won good races at their best.
“But the beauty of small track racing is the extra level of uncertainty it brings.
“Swayzee didn’t look comfortable at all at Albury and I’ve just got to hope he’ll struggle a bit around Penrith, too.
“It’s the opposite with my horse. For some reason, he just never shows his best at the big Menangle track (1400m), but back on 800m or 1000m tracks and he’s a different horse. He loves it.”
It will be a huge night of racing and entertainment on track at Penrith, which replaces Menangle as the marquee Saturday night meeting.
Former Aussie cricket superstar Brett Lee and his band Six & Out will be part of an all-star entertainment line-up, along with Birds Of Toyko and Sarah McLeod.
“Sharing the stage with Birds Of Tokyo will be a real Bucket List moment,” Lee said. “It’s going to be massive, the best musos, the best horses on show, the best crowd. We can’t wait.”
