Australian News Today

Swayzee’s unorthodox path headlines Australia’s NZ Cup assault

Swayzee’s unorthodox path headlines Australia’s NZ Cup assault

A champion trotter and remarkable pacer will headline Australia’s strongest assault on New Zealand’s biggest week of racing.

Victorian megastar Just Believe will chase his 10th Group 1 in Tuesday’s $NZ400,000 Group 1 Dominion Trot at Addington.

A couple of hours later, mighty NSW stayer Swayzee will be favourite to successfully defend his crown in the $NZ1 million NZ Cup.

The magnitude of a successful defence is huge when you consider only two Australian-trained pacers have won the NZ Cup since 1987.

PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

It gets even bigger when you consider his pathway to the Cup.

Swayzee raced and won at Young last Friday night – a seven-hour return road trip – from his Menangle base.

That’s less than four days before he tackles the NZ Cup, clearly the most gruelling race in this part of the world.

Swayzee has a flight from Sydney to Auckland today (Sunday) and then a connector to Christchurch.

It must be the most daring feature race assault of all-time.

Latest markets have him $2.80, ahead of the two young Kiwi stars Merlin ($3.20) and Dont Stop Dreaming ($4.50).

Australia’s other two Cup runners are Victoria’s multiple Group 1 winner Better Eclipse ($14) and emerging Queenslander, Aroda ($51).

Just Believe, who won all four starts in an NZ raid earlier this year, completely dominates Dominion betting from barrier two at $1.20. The other three Aussie runners are outsiders: Arcee Phoenix ($41), One Over All ($51) and Kyvalley Hotspur ($126).

Former Miracle Mile winner and eight-time Group 1 winner Catch A Wave adds further to the Aussie flavour in the Junior free-for-all (race four).

It’s a warm-up for his major target, the $NZ200,000 Group 1 NZ Free-for-all at Addington on Friday.

Also on Friday, unbeaten Aussie trotting filly Keayang Zahara is $1.70 favourite to win her 12th race in the inaugural $NZ500,000 The Ascent for three-year-old trotters.

And Just Believe’s young stablemate, Hes From Heaven, will fly the Aussie flag in the $NZ500,000 The Velocity for three-year-old pacers.

• Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.

Originally published as Swayzee’s unorthodox path headlines Australia’s New Zealand Cup harness assault