King Of Swing – McCarthy’s headline act

New South Wales harness racing trainer Belinda McCarthy has three runners in this year’s $500,000 Hunter Cup field, with Blacks A Fake, Miracle Mile and reigning Hunter Cup champion King Of Swing her stable’s headline act.

$500,000 2021 Del-Re National A.G. Hunter Cup Final Field

1) Triple Eight (1:55.4) by American Ideal – 54 starts, 12 wins, 8 seconds, 14 thirds for $291,388 in earnings.

2) Alta Orlando (1:49.8) by Courage Under Fire – 85 starts, 18 wins, 17 seconds, 14 thirds for $669,927 in earnings.

3) Sirletic 1st EM (1:53.7) by Rocknroll Hanover – 32 starts, 13 wins, 9 seconds, 4 thirds for  $160,533 in earnings.

4) Fourbigmen (1:52.6) by Mach Three – 49 starts, 15 wins, 4 seconds, 12 thirds for $233,750 in earnings.

5) Bettor Be The Bomb (1:54.2) by Bettor’s Delight – 93 starts, 15 wins, 14 seconds, 12 thirds for $165,910 in earnings

6) Our Uncle Sam (1:52.3) by Sportswriter – 97 starts, 22 wins, 16 seconds, 7 thirds for $653,676in earnings.

7) Somewhere Secret (1:53.8) by Somebeachsomewhere – 36 starts, 14 wins, 1 second, 6 thirds for $133,047 in earnings.

9) Lochinvar Art (1:48.6) by Modern Art – 49 starts, 27 wins, 14 seconds, 5 thirds for $1,083,456 in earnings.

10) Star Galleria (1:52.9) by Art Major – 56 starts, 15 wins, 10 seconds, 5 thirds for $416,407 in earnings.

11) Wolf Stride (1:51.3) by Rock N Roll Heaven – 25 starts, 12 wins, 2 seconds, 7 thirds for $212,820 in earnings.

12) King Of Swing (1:48) by Rocknroll Hanover – 63 starts, 31 wins, 10 seconds, 4 thirds for $1,631,336 in earnings.

13) Malcolms Rhythm (1:52.9) by Art Major – 37 starts, 9 wins, 10 seconds, 6 thirds for $188,520 in earnings.

King Of Swing was the 2019/20 Australian Pacing Gold Grand Circuit champion following his brilliant display in the final leg of the season, the Gr.1 $175,660 TAB Blacks A Fake at Albion Park in early December

Following victories in the Hunter Cup and Miracle Mile earlier last year, the star pacer held an insurmountable lead going into the Queensland feature, but connections were keen to put an exclamation mark against his name. And that they did.

Starting as a dominant favourite, King Of Swing ($1.50) completely dominated his rivals when racing clear of Colt Thirty One and Turn It Up in the 2680m feature under a rain-soaked skyline.

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“It’s a great way to be crowned Grand Circuit champion, he’s been awesome all year and winning this title as a stallion is a big thing for connections,” McCarthy said. “He’s such a smart horse, he’s part human and has a great demeanor. He handled the trip up really well and took in the new surroundings like he’d been here before, it’s a real thrill to be part of his team.”

King Of Swing has had two starts back in January for two wins and is on target for this weeks clash with Lochinvar Art in the $500,000 Hunter Cup at Tabcorp Park Melton this weekend.

At the New Zealand National Standardbred Yearling Sale on the 14th February at Karaka, Breckon Farms are presenting three colts and two fillies all closely related to King Of Swing. In fact Lot 39 Twist Like This is a half brother to King Of Swing by A Rocknroll Dance.

LOT 39 – TWIST LIKE THIS (Photo taken early December)

Lot 39 Twist Like This is a brown colt by A Rocknroll Dance, the sire of Australia’s fastest ever two-year-old Bar Room Banta and the classic winners No Win No Feed, Its Rock N Roll and Keayang Jackie. He’s a half-brother to the great Australian pacer King Of Swing, the winner of the Miracle Mile, A. G. Hunter Cup and Breeders Crown and $1.6 million, and the Sires’ Stakes 2YO Fillies Championship winner Bettor Twist. Their dam is the outstanding racemare, Twist And Twirl, the Sires’ Stakes 3YO champion and Northern Oaks winner whose a sister to the Newcastle Cup and Shirley Turnbull Memorial winner Feels Like Magic and a half-sister to the dam of the NSW Sapling and SA Derby winner Mach Dan.

LOT 7 – BETTOR HEIST

Lot 7 – Bettor Heist‘s dam is a half-sister to mother of top Australian Grand Circuit pacer King Of Swing. A colt by the incomparable Bettor’s Delight out of the Art Major mare Reachforthetill, an unraced half-sister to the NZ Sires’ Stakes 3YO champion and Great Northern Oaks winner Twist And Twirl, the dam of the Miracle Mile and A. G. Hunter Cup winner King Of Swing and the Sires’ Stakes 2YO Final winner Bettor Twist. His dam is also a half-sister to the multiple NSW Group winner Feels Like Magic and to the $130,000 winning mare Bettor Give It, whose the dam of the NSW Sapling Stakes and SA Derby winner Mach Dan.

LOT 28 – HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS (Photo taken early December)

Lot 28 – Hollywoods Nights is from winning half-sister to Sires Stakes champion Twist And Twirl. She is a bay filly from the second crop of the world’s ever fastest pacer and the leading first crop two-year-old sire in 2020 in Always B Miki. Her dam Spandau Ballet is a 1:58 winning half-sister to five winners including the Sires’ Stakes 3YO champion and Northern Oaks winner Twist And Twirl, she the dam of the Miracle Mile, A. G. Hunter Cup and Breeders Crown winner King Of Swing and the Sires’ Stakes 2YO Fillies Championship winner Bettor Twist. Spandau Ballet is also a half-sister to the Newcastle Cup and Shirley Turnbull Memorial winner Feels Like Magic and to the $130,000 winning Victorian mare Bettor Give It, the dam of the NSW Sapling and SA Derby winner Mach Dan.

LOT 32 – STUMBLIN IN (Photo taken early December)

Dam a half-sister to Twist And Twirl, dam of the great King Of Swing. Lot 32 Stumblin In is a Art Major filly who is the third foal of the Mach Three mare Spin To Win, a 1:59.3 placegetter whose a half-sister to five winners including the Sires’ Stakes 3YO champion and Northern Oaks winner Twist And Twirl, she the dam of the Miracle Mile, A. G. Hunter Cup and Breeders Crown winner King Of Swing and the Sires’ Stakes 2YO Fillies Championship winner Bettor Twist. Spin To Win is also a half-sister to the Newcastle Cup and Shirley Turnbull Memorial winner Feels Like Magic and to the $130,000 Victorian mare Bettor Give It, the dam of the NSW Sapling and SA Derby winner Mach Dan.

LOT 83-  DOUBLE TIME (Photo taken early December)

A colt very closely related to the top Australian pacer King Of Swing. Lot 83 – Double Time is a colt with a 4×4 cross to Albatross, he’s by A Rocknroll Dance, the sire of Australia’s fastest ever juvenile Bar Room Banta and the classic winners No Win No Feed, Its Rock And Roll and Miss Streisand. He’s the first foal of the Artsplace filly Double Twist, a sister to the Sires’ Stakes 3YO champion and Northern Oaks winner Twist And Twirl, she the dam of the Miracle Mile, A. G. Hunter Cup and Breeders Crown winner King Of Swing and the Sires’ Stakes 2YO Fillies Championship winner Bettor Twist, and to the Newcastle Cup and Shirley Turnbull Memorial winner Feels Like Magic. Double Twist is a half-sister to the dual Listed winner Bettor Give It, winner of $130,000 and now the dam of the NSW Sapling and SA Derby winner Mach Dan.

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