From miracle recovery to Mildura Cup mission

Victorian harness racing trainer David Lewis will cover some long miles over the next 10 days in pursuit of one of the country cups he admits, for sentimental reasons, is on his bucket list.

Lewis, based at Hamilton, in southwest Victoria, has Kowalski Analysis (Roll With Joe) lining up in the heats of the Mildura Pacing Cup on Tuesday (Apr 18) – the only regional Victorian heat and final cup format and the only three-day pacing cup carnival in Australia.

“I grew up in the Mallee at Ultima, near Swan Hill, and my (late) dad David senior was a trainer and part of the Nyah Harness Racing Club committee for a lot of years – he’s the one we blame!  There were 10 kids in my family, and we all are either involved or still love the trots,” Lewis said.

“I remember going to the Mildura trots with dad as a little kid, so I’ve always thought that the Mildura and Swan Hill Cups are two I would really love to win,” he said.

Kowalski Analysis has recorded eight wins and 14 placings from his 33 starts, amassing $153,000 in stakes. At his best, the now six-year-old matched it at the Group One level, and did so during 2021, finishing third in the Chariots of Fire in February of that year.

However serious illness forced him to spend nearly 12 months off the scene, and the fact that Lewis now has him back to somewhere near his best is testament to his persistence and a radical treatment by his veterinarian wife Kristabel.

“The horse was very crook after he came back from Sydney from that (Chariots) campaign.  There was a lot going on, but the worst of it was that he had bacteria in his stomach that made it impossible for him to hold anything in – everything would basically come straight through,” Lewis said.

“It meant he couldn’t stay hydrated when he was so loose.  Kristabel did a lot of work with him to get him right and tried so many things, but the turning point was really when she decided to try something a bit radical, which was drenching him with manure from a healthy horse.

“The idea is that it reintroduces good bacteria to the horse’s gut, and that allows the system to fight back.  He seemed a little bit better and a little bit better and then started to come good.”

It took more than six months for Kowalski Analysis to return to full health – but he bounced back with three wins and two seconds from five starts from October last year, including two metropolitan class victories and a win in the Stawell Cup as well as runner up in Lewis’s hometown Hamilton Cup in January.

“He lost his way a bit, he got a cold after that, and I battled to get him to the Horsham Cup in February (in which he finished a close-up sixth),” he said.

Lewis, who enjoyed Group One success with Abettorpunt (as well as ticking off the first of his bucket list cups, Charlton) around 10 years ago, said he had given Kowalski Analysis a freshen up since the Horsham Cup.

“As a 93 rating he’s drawn barrier five in the heat, so hopefully that will mean we can go forward and get a handy spot,” he said.

“I’d love to stay up for the carnival, because I think it’s one of the great events in our sport, but I will need to travel up and back with him (five hours each way) because he is a horse that likes his own bed!

“I won’t have to do anything with him in between the heat and final – the biggest question is whether he’s got enough miles in his legs from the letup.”

The Mildura mission might well be a taste of things to come for Lewis, who’s looking forward to a change of pace in the second half of the season.

“I’m only training four at the moment, but I’ve had teams of up to 10 or 12 over the years, at times,” he said.

“But we’ve sold our business, the Grand Central Hotel, and we will get out of there in July so I’m probably looking for the first time to be able to go at the horse’s full time.

“I’ve been in the pub for 31 years, so it will definitely be a big change. We’re on 110 acres here just five minutes out of town and it’s a beautiful spot.  We built a house here three years ago and I’ve put in a treadmill and looking into a water walker to make things a bit easier.

“Horses have always been a second job for me, so hopefully I will be able to get them going a little bit better when I can concentrate on them full time.  I give a lot of credit to anyone who is full time in the industry, but I think a lot of it is born on hard work. I’m not afraid of that so I’m looking forward to being able to give it a go.”

Two heats of the Tasco Petroleum Mildura Pacing Cup will be run on Tuesday (Apr 18), with the $60,000 Group Three final on Saturday (Apr 22). Night two of the three-day carnival will be on the Friday night (Apr 21).

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by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink